The government has reached its target of offering a vaccine to all those in priority groups 1 – 9 ahead of schedule. All adults over 50, the clinically vulnerable and health and social care workers have now been offered a Covid-19 jab, as the government prepares to move into the next phase of the Covid-19 vaccination programme.
The target was reached ahead of schedule, with the government having pledged to offer a first dose to priority cohorts 1-9 by 15 April. Nearly 40 million vaccines have now been given in total and 7 million second doses have now been given – with a record 475,230 given on Saturday.
MP for North East Bedfordshire, Richard Fuller, said:
I am grateful to everyone involved in the vaccine rollout which has already saved many thousands of lives. This has been an extraordinary national effort and we will continue to progress towards our target of offering all adults a vaccine by the end of July.
The JCVI has published its final advice on how the government should vaccinate those aged under 50, setting out that the most effective way to minimise hospitalisations and deaths is to continue to prioritise people by age.
In line with its interim advice, the JCVI has recommended an age-based approach with adults aged 18 to 49 prioritised in descending age order as follows:
- all those aged 40 to 49 years
- all those aged 30 to 39 years
- all those aged 18 to 29 years
All over 45 year olds are now being invited to book their jab.
