People who refuse Covid vaccine are selfish, says Lord Lloyd Webber

The composer Lord Lloyd Webber has said those who refuse to have a coronavirus vaccination are "selfish", as government fears emerged that social cohesion could be undermined if those reluctant to get jabs are scapegoated.

Government figures are working on ways to further improve take-up of the jabs among ethnic minority communities whose vaccination rate lags behind the nationwide average, with a push to get families to have vaccines together being looked at.

The Telegraph understands that multi-generational vaccinations, where members of the same household of different ages can be jabbed at the same time, are being seriously considered after recent pilots.

A high proportion of Bangladeshi and Pakistani households have someone older than 70 living with someone younger than 50, which partly explains why the "family jabs" approach has caught the interest of figures within the Government.

Other ideas such as more door-to-door vaccinations in hotspots and using supermarket car parks for drive-through jab centres have been discussed. The latter is unlikely to be adopted amid a belief there are already enough vaccine sites.

The thinking comes as Whitehall maps out how to contain the spread of the Indian variant, officially named B.1.617.2, which early data suggests can be transmitted more rapidly than other strains of the virus.

On Monday, Matt Hancock, the Health Secretary, announced that there have now been 2,323 confirmed cases of the variant in the UK, up around 1,000 on the figure made public last Thursday. Some 483 cases were in Bolton and Blackburn with Darwen.

Downing Street rowed back on a commitment to announce a change in social distancing rules and the outcome of a Covid passports review later this month, stressing there was now no "set time" for when the announcements would be made.

Similarly, it remains unclear whether the lifting of restrictions on weddings from June 21 – the final step of Boris Johnson's reopening roadmap for England – will be announced on May 24, as he had indicated last week.

The spotlight has fallen on the problem of vaccine hesitancy after Mr Hancock said most of those hospitalised by the Indian variant in Bolton were eligible for the Covid jab but had not had one.

Lord Lloyd Webber, the acclaimed composer of musicals, criticised those who declined to take up the vaccine as he stressed that the June 21 reopening date was "absolutely critical" for the theatre industry.

He told BBC Radio 4's World At One: "If that doesn't happen, I really don't even want to think about it. It has been such a devastating time for everybody.

"I just feel so strongly at the moment, particularly the people who are not getting vaccinated and everything, just how selfish it is, because so many people depend on this June 21 date – they really depend on it."

But others cautioned against being too critical. Kwasi Kwarteng, the Business Secretary, said those who do not want a vaccine should not be "stigmatised" by the rest of society. Number 10 distanced itself from an unnamed government minister who told Politico: "The risk is that a small number of idiots ruin it for everyone else."

Tory ministers and MPs on Monday night warned the Prime Minister that they would not accept an extension to Covid restrictions.

One Cabinet minister said Mr Johnson missing the June 21 deadline could be his "Theresa May moment", according to the Daily Mail, referring to when she missed the Brexit deadline. The source added that Downing Street had "overreacted to panicked warnings" in parts of the health establishment.

A government source involved in vaccine planning warned against scapegoating of communities in which vaccine uptake is lagging, telling The Telegraph: "The last thing we want is to push back the June 21 date as that will lead to bad social cohesion."

Speaking in the Commons on Monday, Mr Hancock said 19 people in Bolton were in hospital with the Indian variant and eight in Blackburn, and that it was now the dominant strain in the area.

He told MPs: "The majority have not been vaccinated and, of them, most of them could have been vaccinated, which is frustrating to see, but is also a message to everyone. It just reinforces the message that people should come forward and get vaccinated because that is the best way to protect everybody."

Downing Street figures stressed that take-up of the vaccine generally has been high, with Britain surpassing almost all other Western countries in willingness to take a jab, according to YouGov polling.

Early indications are that the Indian variant is more transmissible than the Kent variant that upended UK reopening plans late last year, but that the vaccines appear to be effective against it.

New data shows that the variant has gone from making up two per cent of cases in England to 20 per cent in just two weeks. Vaccine buses and pop-up sites have been sent into the worst-hit areas, an approach likely to be rolled out more widely in places that see a surge.