CORONAVIRUS vaccines are “almost certainly less effective” at reducing transmission of the Indian variant, the deputy chair of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) has said.

Yesterday the Scottish Government decided Glasgow and Moray would remain in level 3 restrictions - and urged people not to travel in or out of the areas - amid concern over spiking cases there. They believe Glasgow's spike is linked to the Indian variant. 

Meanwhile Boris Johnson warned that plans to end lockdown restrictions in England next month are in jeopardy, as scientists feared the Indian coronavirus variant could be 50% more transmissible than the Kent strain.

Johnson said he will press ahead with plans to lift restrictions on Monday, permitting people to mix indoors as well as allowing physical contact to return between households for the first time in over a year.

In a bid to dampen the effects of the variant, Johnson announced that in England people aged over 50 and the clinically vulnerable will have their second doses of a Covid vaccine accelerated.

This morning, JCVI deputy chair Professor Anthony Harnden told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “The vaccines may be less effective against mild disease but we don’t think they’re less effective against severe disease.

“But in combination with being less effective against mild disease, they’re almost certainly less effective against transmission.”

The professor also defended the approach of bringing forward second jabs rather than speeding up the rollout to younger people.

He said that targeting more vulnerable people with full immunity is a “better strategy”.

He said: “The reason we think this is if we immunise 18-29 year olds, for instance, in these areas we’ll be taking vaccines from somebody else in the country.

“The vaccines may be less effective against transmission and immunity takes a number of weeks to develop, so it’s not a very good strategy for preventing transmission, what we want is to prevent disease.

“From a vaccination strategy it just won’t help mass-vaccinating a number of young people at the expense of older people who haven’t been vaccinated.”

READ MORE: Covid: Glasgow to stay in Level 3 lockdown as case numbers rise

This morning the British Medical Association's public health medicine committee co-chairman said in a statement that lifting measures while the young are not vaccinated is a "real worry".

Dr Richard Jarvis said: “With key segments of the population still not vaccinated and clusters of variants, including the rapidly increasing Indian variant, becoming a growing concern, we must approach this next stage of easing lockdown with the utmost caution.

“It is a real worry that when further measures lift on May 17, the majority of younger people, who are often highly socially mobile and could therefore be most at risk of a more infectious strain, are not yet vaccinated.

“Despite having the highest rates of positive tests throughout the pandemic, they will now be able to mix in larger groups in hospitality venues without many of the mitigations that have helped to push infection rates lower and lower since the start of the year.

“We are urging the public, and young people in particular, to take a cautious approach to social and physical contact, to continue practising ‘hands, face, space’ and to meet outdoors wherever possible.”