Forex Trading For Beginners 2021: Covid: People 45 or over in England invited to book vaccine

People aged 45 or over in England can now get a Covid jab, as the vaccination programme enters the next phase.

Appointments can be booked on the NHS England website, which temporarily crashed on Tuesday morning when it opened up to the new age group.

It comes after all over-50s and those in high-risk groups in the UK were offered a first dose of the vaccine.

The government has said it is on track to offer a first dose to all adults by the end of July.

Ministers have met their target of offering a first dose to the top nine priority groups by 15 April.

Its has now moved onto "phase 2" of the vaccination programme - which involves offering vaccines to healthy adults under the age of 50. There are an estimated 3.7 million people in England aged 45 to 49.

In Northern Ireland, people aged 40-45 are now eligible to get a Covid vaccine, while in some areas in Wales 40-49 year-olds are being invited.

More than 32 million people in the UK have had their first vaccine dose.

On Saturday a record 475,230 second doses were given out, with more than 7.6 million people now fully vaccinated.

'Supply is a key variable for what happens next'

Given how quickly the vaccination programme has been rolled out in the UK, hitting the target of all priority groups by mid-April is not unexpected.

And remember, there is no published data on the number of people offered jabs, as opposed to those who have actually been vaccinated. However, NHS England has made clear that across the nine groups, 95% have actually had their first doses - that is an average, with take-up rates varying in different groups.

Online bookings for the next age group, those aged 45 and over, have opened in England. Text messages to 48 and 49-year-olds from local vaccination centres are set to go out soon.

But what's not known is to what extent supplies of Pfizer and Moderna vaccines will fill the gap caused this month by supply problems with the AstraZeneca doses.

The government is sticking to the line that the programme is on track to offer every adult a first dose by late July.

But officials qualify it by saying this is "subject to supply" - and that is a key variable.

England has joined Wales and Scotland in giving out its first doses of the Moderna jab, the third Covid-19 vaccine to be administered in the UK.

Meanwhile, Prof Jeremy Brown, a member of the Joint Committee of Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), said people will eventually "have to" mix Covid jabs.

He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "It's practically going to have to be that way because, once you've completed a course of, say, the Moderna or Pfizer or the AstraZeneca with two doses, in the future it's going to be quite difficult to guarantee you get the same type of vaccine again.

"So there will be a mix-and-match occurring just by the sort of practicalities of doing a third or fourth vaccination over the next few years."

He added that trials involving mixed vaccine combinations were ongoing.

Graph showing the number of people vaccinated in the UK

Another member of the JCVI, Prof Adam Finn, welcomed the news that the UK had completed the first phase of its vaccination programme but added: "We're only halfway up the hill."

He told BBC Breakfast: "We mustn't take our eye off the task and we've got to keep working to get to the top."

Prof Finn said people over 50 who have not been invited for a first dose of the vaccine should make a "gentle enquiry" with their GP.

On Monday, the UK recorded 3,568 new coronavirus cases and 13 deaths within 28 days of a positive test.

It comes after pub gardens, non-essential shops and hairdressers reopened in England.

Northern Ireland's "stay at home" order also ended on Monday, while in Wales non-essential shops and close-contact services reopened.

In Scotland, non-essential shops and hospitality are not due to open until 26 April.

Meanwhile, surge testing has been implemented in the Wandsworth and Lambeth areas of south London after a cluster of the South African Covid-19 variant was found.

The Department of Health and Social Care called it the "largest surge testing operation to date" following the identification of 44 confirmed and 30 probable cases.