The UK is facing a "perilous moment" in the pandemic and must guard against complacency, the PM has said, as he announced a total of 2.4 million vaccinations have been given so far.
Visiting a vaccination centre in Bristol, Boris Johnson said: "We have a really tough fight on our hands."
It comes as seven mass inoculation centres have opened in England.
And England's chief medical officer has warned the next few weeks will be "the worst" of the pandemic for the NHS.
Prof Chris Whitty has urged people to minimise unnecessary social contacts.
Sunday's figures showed another 563 deaths in the UK within 28 days of a positive Covid test, and another 54,940 cases. There are also more than 32,000 people in hospital with coronavirus, the latest data shows.
Meanwhile, the government has set out its plans to immunise tens of millions of people by spring.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock will lead a news conference on the vaccine delivery plan later.
Speaking at Ashton Gate Stadium, Mr Johnson said 2 million people have already received a Covid vaccine across the UK, which means around 400,000 people have had two doses.
He said "roughly" 40% of over-80s have been vaccinated, and 23% of elderly residents in care homes.
'Race against time'
Under the vaccine delivery plan, the government has pledged to carry at least two million vaccinations in England per week by the end of January, which it says will be made possible by rolling out jabs at 206 hospital sites, 50 vaccination centres and around 1,200 local vaccination sites.
The plan also reiterates the government's aim of offering vaccinations to around 15 million people in the UK - the over-70s, older care home residents and staff, frontline healthcare workers and the clinically extremely vulnerable - by mid-February.
But the prime minister warned the vaccination programme was in a "race against time" because of the pressure the NHS was under.
And he said it was "a very perilous moment because everyone can sense the vaccine is coming in - my worry is that will breed false complacency".
Asked whether the government would introduce stricter lockdown rules, Mr Johnson said ministers would keep restrictions "under constant review", adding: "Where we have to tighten the rules we will."
In the first four weeks of the vaccination campaign, the NHS did 1.3 million vaccinations.
News that in the past week almost the same again has been done shows progress is being made - even though there has been some concern rollout to care home residents has been slower than hoped.
Hitting two million doses a week is the next target - and is something the NHS is aiming to get close to this week.
With more vaccination sites opening by the day, it should be achievable as long as there is good supply.
There is already enough vaccine in the country to vaccinate all 15 million people in the highest at-risk groups that have been promised an offer of a vaccine by mid-February.
However, not all of it has been through the final safety checks or been packaged up ready for distribution.
Challenges remain, but even at this early stage its clear there is growing optimism that the programme is on track.
The newly-published vaccination plan also says ministers are aiming to offer jabs at more than 2,700 sites across the UK.
And it announces that daily vaccination figures for England will be published from Monday - showing the total number vaccinated to date, including first and second doses.
NHS England's chief executive, Sir Simon Stevens, has told MPs that there is a "strong case" for asking the the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) to consider prioritising "teachers and other key workers" for vaccination after the "first nine [priority] groups have been vaccinated".
Asked if he thought the NHS had what it needs in place to meet vaccination targets, including offering everyone aged over 18 a vaccine by the autumn, Sir Simon said "that is absolutely the goal and we think it is a feasible goal".
Sir Simon also said a quarter of coronavirus admissions to hospital are for people under the age of 55.
As seven mass vaccination centres opened across England on Monday, NHS England said hundreds more GP-led and hospital services would also open later this week.
But with all centres, people will need to wait until they receive an invitation.
Two vaccines - Pfizer-BioNTech and Oxford-AstraZeneca - are currently being administered in the UK.
On Friday, a third coronavirus vaccine - made by US company Moderna - was approved for use, although supplies are not expected to arrive until spring.
Vaccine programmes are also progressing in the UK's devolved nations.
All over-50s and everyone who is at greater risk from Covid in Wales will be offered a vaccine by spring, under new plans.
And Scotland's health secretary has said every aged over 80 or over in the nation will be offered a jab by February, while care workers in Northern Ireland who provide services to ill or elderly patients living at home can now book an appointment to get a Covid-19 vaccine.
'A mountain to climb'
There was an air of optimism at Epsom racecourse - one of England's new mass vaccination centres - this morning as the first Covid vaccinations were administered.
A steady stream of Surrey residents, mostly in their 80s, filed in from a large outdoor car park.
Given that these are among the most at risk from Covid, it is vital that vaccination centres maintain rigorous social distancing.
From what I observed, it looked like it had been well thought out.
People were asked to stay in their cars until their slot was ready, and were then shepherded through to one of six immunisation pods in a huge interior open space.
The centre, one of seven in England, plans to carry out around 500 vaccinations today, rising to 1,000 a day soon.
Like the other hubs in England it will be open 12 hours a day, seven days a week.
But there is a mountain to climb if the goal is to be reached of offering up to 15 million people a first dose of Covid vaccine by mid February.
The prime minister said 2.4 million vaccines had been administered. That means there are five weeks in which to carry out up to 12.5 million more.
That's 2.5 million a week if the top four priority groups are to be all offered immunisation.
England is currently under a national lockdown, meaning people must stay at home and can go out only for limited reasons such as food shopping, exercise, or work if they cannot do so from home.
Similar lockdown measures are in place across much of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Ministers held two meetings on Sunday to discuss how to enforce the current lockdown measures more strictly and whether even tighter restrictions may be needed.
BBC political correspondent Iain Watson said no decisions on further restrictions were taken as there was a desire within government to wait until reliable data on existing measures becomes available in 10 days.
However, he added there had been a discussion on better enforcement of existing regulations, including at shops and workplaces.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer questioned why there are "less restrictions in place" now than there were last March.
In his first speech of the year, he said "we need to see the evidence behind nurseries" remaining open.
Asked whether tighter restrictions were needed, he said: "I do think it's time to hear from the scientists [about] what else could be done and that probably should be done in the next few hours".
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Meanwhile, the Test and Trace scheme in England has revised one of its definitions of a "close contact" - the people who need to be reached if they have been near to someone who has tested positive for Covid.
The definition now refers to a close contact as anyone who has been within two metres of someone for more than 15 minutes, whether in a single period or cumulatively over the course of one day.
Previously the definition was just a single period of at least 15 minutes.
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2021-01-11 15:52:00Z
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