UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock said he is "increasingly confident" that England is "on track" for the government's roadmap to exit the coronavirus lockdown, local media reported.
His remarks came after a study by Public Health England (PHE) showed promising results for the two main vaccines being used to fight the pandemic in Britain, reports Xinhua news agency.
"I'm increasingly confident we're on track for the roadmap because this data shows the vaccine after two doses works just as effectively, and we all know that the vaccine is our way out of this," Hancock told Sky News on Sunday.
According to the PHE study, which took place between April 5 and May 16, the Pfizer vaccine was 88 per cent effective against symptomatic disease from the India-related variant two weeks after the second dose, compared with 93 per cent effectiveness against the variant identified in Kent.