Covid vaccine programme calls on 60 to 63-year-olds to book their jab this week

The letters will start arriving tomorrow, Monday, March 1, explaining how to make an appointment through the national booking service.

They have been sent after more than three in four people aged 65 to 70 took up the offer of a vaccination.

More than 16.5million people across England, over a third of the adult population, have now received the jab, with people being invited in order of risk, which increases with age.

The latest invites means everyone in the first seven priority groups will have been offered a jab, with people aged between 50 and 60 set to be invited shortly.

Professor Stephen Powis, the NHS’s national medical director, said: “The NHS vaccination programme, the biggest in the health service’s history and fastest in Europe, goes from strength to strength.

“I would like to thank my colleagues across the NHS, along with all the volunteers and others working on the programme, for their hard work which has seen more than 17 million jabs given in a matter of weeks.

“I would urge anyone who has been invited to take up the offer – it doesn’t matter when you were invited you can still come forward and protect yourself and others.”

The NHS has also written to almost 450,000 people age 64 along with 600,000 who have recently been asked to shield.

The push to get as many of the most at-risk people protected means nine in 10 people in the top four priority groups have received a jab.

The vaccine supply is expected to increase in March, allowing for further acceleration of the programme as Easter approaches.

Vaccine Minister Nadhim Zahawi added his thanks to all those who had helped deliver the immunisations and added: “Our incredible vaccination programme is accelerating and well over one in three people across the UK have now received their first jab.

“We are now inviting those aged 60 to 63 to receive their vaccines and I urge everybody to come forward as quickly as possible to protect yourself and others from this terrible virus.”

The booking service can be accessed at http://www.nhs.uk/covid-vaccination.

Those who cannot go online can call 119 free and NHS teams are visiting the housebound.

The dramatic events of the pandemic are having a major impact on many of our local valued advertisers and consequently the advertising that we receive.

We are now more reliant than ever on your support through buying our newspaper.

If you can, please pick up a copy of the paper when you are at the shops.

Thank you.