The coronavirus vaccine could be offered to Brits as young as 40 in less than five weeks, it has been revealed.
Government advisers are expected to recommend that health bosses keep on prioritising people based on age for the next phase of the rollout.
It is thought the age brackets will be wider than before, meaning people aged 40 to 49 will be invited for the vaccine as soon as March 24.
This will depend on whether the Government hits its target of offering a first dose to 32million people in the top nine groups by this date, which it looks on track to do.
The news will come as a great source of relief to people who are eager to get back to normal life, as Boris Johnson prepares to address the nation on Monday and set out his ‘roadmap’ out of lockdown.
But it is understood that key workers won’t be given priority in phase two of the rollout, despite being much more exposed to people who could be infected with Covid-19.
Government’s Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation met yesterday to draft its recommendations for the next phase.
The team are understood to have rejected suggestions of prioritising key workers or ethnic minorities, opting for a simple age-based approach instead, the Daily Mail reports.
The recommendations are expected to be signed off today and sent to ministers for approval at the start of next week.
Coronavirus appears to be on the retreat in the UK, with cases dropping by 29% in seven days in the week to February 10, according to Test and Trace data, the lowest level since the week to December 2.
Infections have plummeted by 80% in London since January, but prevalence of the virus remains similar to late-September levels, and health experts have warned people not to drop their guards just yet.
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
For more stories like this, check our news page.
from RSSMix.com Mix ID 8291209 https://ift.tt/3k3D7u1
No comments:
Post a Comment