Covid vaccine to be offered to over-65s from next week
Residents over 65 will reportedly start receiving invitations to receive the jab as early as next week
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Your support makes all the difference.As Britain progresses towards its goal of seeing 15,000 people vaccinated in the first phase of its vaccination programme, people over the age of 65 are reportedly set to start receiving letters inviting them to receive their first jab.
According to Sky News, over-65s can expect to start receiving invitations to receive a dose of the vaccine starting as early as next week.
Earlier this week, Boris Johnson had urged UK residents who had not yet taken up the offer to receive a first dose of the vaccine to “come forward”.
The prime minister said the UK was nearing its goal of seeing 15 million of its most vulnerable residents vaccinated. However, he said “for one reason or another” some still had yet to receive the jab.
Mr Johnson said the goal of the programme ultimately was not to “hit some numerical target, but to save lives,” which he said was “another step on the long and hard road back to normality”.
The first phase of the vaccination programme has been aimed at offering a first dose of vaccine to those aged 70 and over, healthcare workers and people forced to shield by 15 February.
Once priority groups have received their jabs, the government had hoped that those aged 50 and over and those with underlying conditions could be vaccinated by the end of April.
The Welsh government has said it is expecting to have seen all over-70s, including care home residents, offered a first dose within hours.
If it reaches the goal, it would be the first in the UK nation to have completed the task of distributing jabs to the top four priority groups.
Even once the UK’s first phase vaccination targets have been met, Johnson has warned that residents should get used to the idea of potentially having to get a coronavirus vaccine “booster” jab in the autumn, particularly with the rise of new variants of Covid-19 in the UK and elsewhere.
“I think we’re going to have to get used to the idea of vaccinating and then revaccinating in the autumn, as we come to face these new variants,” he told the Commons during PMQs on Wednesday.
Still, experts have suggested that the progress of the coronavirus vaccination programme could put the UK on track to reopen schools next month and potentially see a further relaxation of social restrictions come April.
Leading epidemiologist Prof Neil Ferguson of Imperial College London has said he is “hopeful” that England’s third national lockdown will be the last, with the expert suggesting the country could return to tier one or two-style restrictions as early as May.
That would mean seeing shops, pubs and restaurants able to reopen and people able to gather in groups of up to six.
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