Hancock vows jabs for all adults by the autumn

EVERY adult in England will be offered a coronavirus jab by the autumn, Health Secretary Matt Hancock has pledged.

Vaccines – described by a public health chief as the ‘light at the end of the tunnel’ – have been rolled out to around two million people.

This week, more than 600,000 people aged 80 and over will be invited to get their jab at one of seven new mass vaccination centres.

And 50 giant vaccination hubs are set to be put into operation over the coming weeks.

Dr Anjan Ghosh, director of public health for the London borough of Bexley, said: ‘The vaccination itself is genuine light at the end of the tunnel, so it’s an enormously important intervention to rollout.’

He told Radio 4’s The World This Weekend: ‘It does feel more like we’re getting a grip on it, that there’s a way to end this, there’s a pathway.’

After the Government set the target to vaccinate around 13million vulnerable people, including care home residents, by the middle of February, Mr Hancock has pledged a new timescale to inoculate every adult in the county.

He told the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show: ‘Every adult will be offered a vaccine by the autumn – absolutely. It’s very, very important.’

The Health Secretary said a dual vaccination for Covid and flu is ‘highly likely’ in the future.

The Government will today publish its longawaited Covid-19 Vaccines Delivery Plan.

Mr Hancock said: ‘We have worked closely with experts across the NHS, local governments and

the Armed Forces to put in place full and thorough preparations for this rollout – this is the biggest vaccination programme in British history. The public can be assured of the time, effort and resources that have gone and will go into ensuring we protect the British people from the scourge of this virus.’

Professor Peter Horby, chairman of the Government’s New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group, said the information on the success of vaccines against new variants was ‘very encouraging’.