New polling has shown a seven point swing in the polls in favour of the Conservatives following the UK’s vaccine roll-out.
Opinium’s weekly tracker puts Boris Johnson’s party on 41 per cent of the vote ahead of Labour on 38 per cent.
That represents a three point dip for Sir Keir Starmer and a four point boost for the Prime Minister.
The results are likely to show the ‘vaccine bounce’ that the Tories had been hoping for.
The UK’s mass vaccination rollout already appears to be having an easing effect on the Covid crisis, according to data.
Research due to be published in days is set to provide evidence that Britons are receiving some protection from the virus, The Times reported on Saturday.
Though it is not yet clear if vaccines block transmission of the virus from one person to another, the deputy chairman of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) said early data “indicate a vaccine effect from the first dose in both younger adults and in older adults over 80”.
“The effect seems to increase over time,” Professor Anthony Harnden told the newspaper. “It is possible that we may get stronger and better long-term protection by a delayed second dose.”
Official figures show that since the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine was first rolled out in early December, some 7.7 million people have received their first jab, indicating the NHS is more than halfway towards its target of vaccinating 15 million in the four most vulnerable groups by the middle of February.
Today Sir Keir praised the government’s response in an article described as an “unusual response” by Jeremy Corbyn’s former speechwriter.
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