BRITAIN is on course to enjoy a summer approaching normality. The number of people dying from Covid 19 is dropping quite quickly, and we are beginning to reopen our society.

The success of the vaccination programme has helped put Britain in a position that is envied around the world, as a third wave tears across continents.

However, it emerges that there is a risk attached to the AstraZeneca jab that a majority of Britons have had. It is a small risk – about one-in-a-million of dying – but it does exist.

If we shut the vaccination programme because of that risk, there would be undoubtedly be many hundreds, many thousands, of deaths per million of the population. Therefore, it is a risk worth taking – it is much riskier to face Covid unprotected than it is to have the AZ vaccine.

But it is understandable that this will shake confidence in the vaccine, and if you get offered the AZ vaccine the day after your 30th birthday, you will have to have a ponder.

In our cynical era, we should acknowledge that our health authorities are being extremely open and honest in presenting this information, and that they are probably being extremely cautious in their recommendations. We must also accept that this is a novel situation and no one with certainty can predict the future – we are only just learning, for example, how horrible an affliction long Covid can be.

The best, and the least riskiest, advice remains to have the vaccination as soon as you are called.