Covid: All over-50s in UK to be offered vaccine by May<\/h1>\n

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All adults aged 50 and over should have been offered a coronavirus vaccine by May, Downing Street has confirmed.<\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Previously ministers had said it was their “ambition” to vaccinate the first nine priority groups by the spring.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The UK had given a first jab to nearly 11 million people as of Thursday and is aiming to reach 15 million vaccinations by 15 February.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Health Secretary Matt Hancock said a lot of things would “have to go right” to hit the May target for all over-50s.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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He said supply was the “most difficult” limiting factor in the roll out.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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But he said the government was on track to vaccinate the first four priority groups by the middle of the month, these include the over-70s, frontline health and care workers and the clinically extremely vulnerable.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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  The\u00a0top nine priority vaccination groups<\/a>\u00a0– which are set by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) – also includes people aged 16 to 64 with underlying health conditions.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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  Mr Hancock also said it was “still too early to say” when restrictions could be lifted and warned the health service was still under pressure.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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  Prime Minister Boris Johnson said,\u00a0in a Twitter video<\/a>, that on 22 February he would “set out the beginnings of our roadmap for a way forward for the whole country as the vaccine programme intensifies and, as more and more people acquire immunity, a steady programme for beginning to unlock”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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  He also warned that these were still “early days” and rates of infection in the country were “still very high”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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  It comes after Mark Harper, chairman of the Covid Recovery Group made up of Conservative MPs who want lockdown to be eased, said it would be “almost impossible to justify having any restrictions in place” once the over-50s had been vaccinated.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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