This country’s vaccination programme has been a remarkable success.

But we are now at the stage where we need to get the younger generation on board as those in their early 20s and teenage years are offered jabs.

While it’s undoubtedly a good thing that we are in this position, we need to be mindful that there is still a global pandemic circulating. It hasn’t gone away, and there is still work to be done to keep us all safe.

It is this younger generation who pose a large risk of transmission due to their social habits like festivals and large events – often taking place in indoor settings like nightclubs and parties.

Getting everybody jabbed is important because the more of society who are vaccinated, the greater the herd immunity effect.

And while there is rightly lots of optimism about this milestone, we cannot throw caution to the wind.

We know that this virus can mutate, creating new strains which our vaccines are not as effective against.

Thankfully there are scientists working on vaccinations for these new variants but that doesn’t stop the spikes in infection rates we have seen in recent months.

Being careful of how we behave and being mindful of social distancing will still be very important in the second half of the year.

It will still be sensible to wear a mask in certain situations and to keep your distance in others.

Regular hand washing – as I have mentioned throughout this pandemic – has always been a vital routine that we need to ingrain into our routines and families.

We need to remember there will always be a small section of society whom the vaccine doesn’t give a perfect response. Only recently TV presenter Andrew Marr commented that he had a case of Covid, despite having had his two jabs.

We need to be patient, because if we take down the restrictions too quickly, I think we may live to regret it.

Until next time

Dr Hilary