seniors jab vaccine
© Daily Mirror/Andy StenningThe elderly were prioritised for the Covid vaccine but it appears many are now breaking the rules.
Figures released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) this morning reveal that 41 per cent of over-80s had met with someone outside their household or support bubble indoors.

Four out of 10 over-80s are breaking Covid lockdown rules within three weeks of being given a first jab of the vaccine, it emerged today.

Figures from the Office for National Statistics found that an estimated 41 per cent admitted they had met someone other than a household member, care worker or member of their support bubble, indoors.

Researchers said 23 per cent said they had met their children indoors after receiving at least one jab.

Experts said they were encouraged with the level of confidence in the vaccine among over 80s, with just five per cent saying they would consider the virus to be a "major or significant risk" after having both jabs.

A quarter said they would be more likely to go to a hospital after receiving their first dose.

ONS said 96 per cent of over-80s would encourage others to have the vaccine when offered.

Tim Gibbs, from the Public Services Analysis Team at ONS, said: "The rollout of the COVID-19 vaccination is, no doubt, a huge relief to many people aged over 80, as we can see that almost half of all them, when asked, considered COVID-19 to be a major or significant personal risk before receiving the vaccination - this decreases to just 5% having the same concern after hypothetically receiving both doses of the vaccine.

"It will hopefully also improve a wider quality of life for this group. We can see that one third of over 80s who had received two or more doses of the vaccine reported they would be more likely to attend a hospital for a medical reason since being vaccinated.

"We hope to start to see these wider positive effects of the vaccine rollout as it continues across more age groups in the coming weeks."

Researchers found 41 per cent of over 80s had met people indoors after their first jab within three weeks.

An ONS report said: "While some over 80s will have received their coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccination before the national lockdown was re-introduced, a large proportion would have received their vaccination after this date, and therefore would have been breaking lockdown regulations by meeting these groups socially."

It continues: "Of over 80s who had received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, 49% reported that they had met someone who they do not live with, outdoors, since receiving their vaccination; 54% had left home to go shopping, and 45% had left home to participate in outdoor leisure activities.

"In contrast, one in five (20%) people who had received at least one dose of a vaccine reported that they had not left home for any reason since receiving their vaccination."