Covid booster jabs will rollout to priority groups next month - who is eligible?

Covid booster vaccines will be rolled out to priority groups in the UK from next month, the Health Secretary has confirmed.

Sajid Javid said the jabs will start to be offered in September at the same time as a flu jab in a bid to protect the most vulnerable ahead of winter.

The government is awaiting advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) before the booster programme can get underway, but it is expected to start in early September.

Mr Javid indicated that the jabs will likely be offered to the over 50s, with those who received their vaccine when the rollout began in December last year to be prioritised.

Speaking during a visit to a hospital in Milton Keynes on Tuesday (10 August), he said: “When it comes to booster jabs we are waiting for the final advice from JCVI, that’s our group of independent clinical advisers, and when we get that advice we will be able to start the booster programme, but I anticipate it will begin in early September, so I’m already making plans for that.

"It's really important that when we start that programme, the sort of first cohorts, the ones that got the jabs early on when we started our programme - the first in the world back in December last year - that those cohorts come first and so we will be prioritising it.

"Also in terms of vaccination, it's important to say that they're working. This wall of defence that the vaccines have created are working.

“It's massively reduced hospitalisations, deaths from Covid are mercifully low and that's because of our vaccination programme."

Who will be eligible for the booster jab?

Those who have been classed as vulnerable to Covid-19 because of their age, job or health condition will likely be invited for a booster jab, while some people may be offered one to protect others.

The proposals suggest that the programme will follow a two-stage approach, with vulnerable groups offered the vaccine first.

In Stage 1 the following groups are expected to be invited for a booster dose, and the flu vaccine, from September: