Covid vaccines available for all over-25s from Tuesday

All over-25s can get Covid jabs from TOMORROW, Matt Hancock announces as NHS boss says vaccination drive is ‘entering the home straight’

• Health Secretary said in Parliament than 25 to 29-year-olds will get jabs Tuesday
• NHS rollout is now working through the lowest-risk age groups with vaccines
• It has already given jabs to 76 per cent of adults in the UK, with only a quarter left

All over-25s in England will be able to get a Covid vaccine from tomorrow morning, Matt Hancock confirmed today.

The Health Secretary announced the change in Parliament as he said Britain’s rollout is moving at an ‘extraordinary pace’. 

Until now only over-30s had been able to book appointments, save for surge clinics in some areas where they had been temporarily opened to younger groups.

People in their 20s are the adults at lowest risk from Covid but the NHS has now given a first dose to 76 per cent of people already so only around one in four are left.

The chief of the NHS, Sir Simon Stevens, said England is now entering the ‘home straight’ of the vaccine programme and added ‘getting the jab is the most important thing you can do’.

Public Health England warned last week that a single dose of vaccine does not appear to work as well against the now-dominant ‘Delta’ variant as it did against the Kent strain, meaning getting the booster jab is crucial. 

Scientists have said as many people as possible – including teenagers – need to get vaccinated to stop the new variant from spreading.

Wales’s First Minister Mark Drakeford said the NHS there will have offered vaccines to all adults over 18 by Monday, putting it six weeks ahead of the end-of-July schedule. 

The Health Secretary announced the change in Parliament today as scientists warned jabs must be given to as many people as possible to stop the new variant

Mr Hancock said in the House of Commons: ‘From this week we will start offering vaccinations to people under 30, bringing us ever closer to the goal of offering a vaccine to all adults in the UK by the end of next month.

‘From tomorrow morning we will open up vaccination to people aged 25 to 29. 

‘Over the remainder of this week the NHS will send texts to people in these age groups and of course GPs will be inviting people on their lists to come forward.’

He added in a statement: ‘The vaccine is our way out of this pandemic so when you get the call, get the jab.’

Sir Simon Stevens added: ‘Tomorrow is a watershed moment as the world-beating NHS vaccination programme enters the home straight of our race to offer everyone their first dose.

‘The NHS vaccination programme is a real team effort and it is a testament to NHS teams across the country, that we are able to open up to people in their twenties just six months on from delivering that world first jab to Maggie Keenan.

‘The tireless efforts of NHS staff to protect the people they care for and their communities has quite simply saved lives, and when you get the text, you’re next.’   

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