Health Secretary Sajid Javid said Covid-19 vaccines prevented 125,000 deaths and 25 million infections despite the fact that 6 million adults did not receive any dose up to date, Sky News reported Wednesday.

Javid has defended the government's advice that people return to their workplaces after scientists warned a new wave of Covid-19 hospital admissions could be triggered.

Experts advising the government's Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) warned pressure on public health services could rise 'very quickly' with daily hospital admissions rising to 7,000 by next month as more than a year of working from home comes to an end.

Javid defended the government's winter plan, announced yesterday, which encouraged workers to return to the office.

He said 'Obviously there's other reports and things, and it is right that experts are looking at what's happening and trying to come up with their best guess of where things might go based on certain assumptions.'

'My job as health secretary, and other ministers, is to take all of that together and make the best decision that we can,' Javid added.

'I'll remind you, back when we made the Step 4 decision there were also experts saying that 'case rates are going to surge to 200,000, hospitalizations are going to go to 2,000 to 3,000 a day  don't do it,' he said.

'We have to listen to them but eventually make what we think is the right decision. There is no risk-free decision but I think what we have announced in terms of this plan, is well thought through,' he added.