Everyone aged 50 and over will be offered a Covid booster vaccine this autumn to top up their immunity and cut their risk of becoming severely ill.
Younger people at high risk from Covid, as well as health and social care staff, will also get the booster.
Drug companies have been developing updated vaccines to tackle newer variants, however, it is still uncertain which vaccine will be used.
The original plan meant healthy people aged 50-65 would not have been jabbed.
However, the immunisation campaign has been expanded as current variants are spreading quickly, it is uncertain how the virus will mutate and it is expected we will be more social this winter than in previous years so the virus will have more chance to spread.
The updated advice comes from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), which advises governments in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
It says the booster should be offered to:
health and social care staff
everyone aged 50 and over
carers who are over the age of 16
people over 5 whose health puts them at greater risk, this includes pregnant women
people over 5 who share a house with somebody with a weakened immune system. etc.. (shouldn't that be children under 5
)
