Sources have told the Telegraph newspaper that the Boris Johnson administration expects to give people the green light to hug each other from June 21st.
“From May 17 people will be able to meet indoors, and by June 21, we would expect that the vast majority – and hopefully all – those in priority groups one to nine [all over-50s] will have had both doses,” the notionally conservative newspaper was told.
“The thinking is that by this point people would be safe to hug, and that it then comes down to a matter of individual judgment,” the source added.
The British government expects to have offered at least one dose of vaccine to every British adult by the end of July, although with officials reportedly considering not offering the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine to under-40s, it is not clear if that timeline could be pushed back.
Claims that Britons may enjoy renewed freedom to embrace each other over a month from now come as Deputy Chief Medical Officer and media darling Jonathan Van-Tam says that it is “incredibly safe” for people who have been fully vaccinated to meet indoors — but that it remains banned anyway.
“If two people who both had two doses of vaccine and have both served at least 14 days after their second dose, then I would be highly confident scientifically that – if those were reputable vaccines – then indeed it would be incredibly safe for those two people to meet,” he admitted, but confirmed that this would not be allowed because “we tend to do everything together” in the United Kingdom in terms of easing restrictions.
“I know this feels tantalisingly, extremely close and it is going to be frustrating at times, particularly for those who have had their two doses – but we just need to make sure we don’t have to go backwards again on any of this,” he said, seemingly heedless of his own immediately preceding statement that vaccinated people meeting each other would not pose a risk.
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