Jab for all over-50s by May

Masterplan by ministers to see 32m vaccinated within 16 weeks

EVERYONE over 50 will be offered a Covid jab by the end of April, ministers pledged last night.

The ambitious timetable means vaccinating 32million Britons – six in ten adults – within 16 weeks. Two million jabs will have to be given every week in the ‘greatest logistical challenge of our time’.

More than 80,000 medics and volunteers will operate from 2,700 centres and the taskforce could swell to 300,000.

A 47-page masterplan published last night said the nation’s remaining adults – another 22million – would be inoculated by autumn.

This second phase is likely to prioritise teachers, police, shop staff and others whose jobs involve dealing with the public.

The 15million most vulnerable – over-70s, health workers and care residents – are already scheduled to receive their jabs by February 15. Doses will be 12 weeks apart.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock said mass vaccination was the only way out of the pandemic.

‘I’m determined to ensure that every adult in this country has the chance to be vaccinated, and that as many people as possible take up that chance,’ he said. ‘I want our country to get back to normal as fast as possible. I want us to have that great British summer.’ Around 2.6million jabs have been administered so far – covering two fifths of the over-80s and a quarter of elderly care home residents.

By the end of January another 43 mass centres will open, each able to give out thousands of jabs a day. Pharmacies, GP-led centres, and hospitals will also be involved.

By then everyone in England will be within ten miles of one of the 1,500 vaccination sites, a figure that will rise to 2,700 by the spring.

Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng said: ‘This is the greatest logistical challenge of our time and we must all play our part.’

The vaccine plan was published yesterday amid soaring pressure on the NHS. Professor Chris Whitty, the chief medical officer, said the next few weeks will be the worst.

‘We are now very close to the point, with vaccination, that we’re going to be able to get on top of this, but it’s not yet,’ he told the BBC.

‘If you get invited for a vaccination, please take up that offer. And that’s the way you will get on top of this epidemic. And, by stages, get back to the life we all want to lead.’

Sir Simon Stephens, who heads NHS England, told MPs he had confidence in the timetable, pointing out that vaccine numbers had tripled over the past week. He added: ‘This is a sprint to mid-February and then it will be a sprint from mid-February through to the end of April to extend vaccinations for the rest of the higher risk groups.

‘Then there will be a marathon from April through the summer into autumn where we are offering everybody in the country who wants it, over the age of 18 for whom the vaccines are authorised, that jab.’

He said those who cannot attend surgeries or pharmacies will be offered jabs at home. Those unable to reach mass vaccination centres will be invited to their GP practice in the next five weeks.

COUNTDOWN TO PM’S TARGET FOR 13m HIGH PRIORITY JABS 34DAYS TO GO