Over 50s to receive Covid vaccine by May

Ministers had previously said it was their "ambition" to vaccinate the first nine priority groups by the spring.

Downing street has confirmed that they are planning for all adults above the age of 50 to receive a first Covid vaccine jab by May 2021.

Covid vaccine rollout dates clarified

Ministers had previously said it was their “ambition” to vaccinate the first nine priority groups by the spring.

The Cabinet Office has now confirmed that it will be May by when all the groups will have all received at the very least one shot of the Covid vaccine. On Wednesday, official statistics confirmed that the UK had vaccinated more than 10.4 million people, making it the best vaccination scheme in Europe.

The government has once again reiterated that it is on track to vaccinate the first four priority groups by 15 February. These include the over 70s, frontline health and care workers and those determined to be extremely clinically vulnerable. The Cabinet Office also confirmed that local elections will go ahead as planned saying: “The UK’s vaccination programme is planned to have reached all nine priority cohorts by May, meaning that the government can commit to go ahead with these polls with confidence.”

Prime Minister Boris Johnson will set out a “precise timeline” for vaccinations when he announces the plan for getting out of lockdown restrictions in England on 16 February. Chairman of the Covid Recovery Group, Mark Harper, said it would be “almost impossible to justify having any restrictions in place” once the over 50s had been vaccinated.

A member of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies, Professor Graham Medley, said the government should not be “setting dates” for lifting lockdown and should focus on reducing cases. Another 1,014 Covid deaths were reported today, taking the total to 111,264 as 19,114 other people tested positive for Covid.