Vaccine rollout extended for second time this week as 34 and 35 -year-olds in England can get jab

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Vaccine Pfizer covid-19 side effect: Risks of rare allergic reactions
Vaccine Pfizer covid-19 side effect: Risks of rare allergic reactions

People aged 35 and over will be invited to get their Covid jabs this week, the Health Secretary has said.

Matt Hancock announced that younger people would start being able to book their vaccinations “within days” as the inoculation programme ramps up.

The move comes amid mounting fears over the spread of the Indian Covid variant in places like Bolton.

Mr Hancock said the Government was ratcheting up efforts to get people vaccinated, with extra vaccinators sent to coronavirus hotspots.

He told the BBC: “We want everyone in Bolton who is eligible to come forward.

“Also this coming week we are going to be opening up vaccinations to the 35s and over across the country because this isn’t just about accelerating the vaccination programme in Bolton.

“It’s about going as fast as we possibly can nationwide.”

Currently, only people aged 38 and over are able to get their vaccines.

Mr Hancock said there was a “high degree of confidence” that jabs work against the new Indian strain of the virus, which has been spreading in parts of the North West and London.

He pointed to early data from Oxford University giving confidence that existing vaccines work against the variant.

“That means that we can stay on course with our strategy of using the vaccine to deal with the pandemic and opening up carefully and cautiously but we do need to be really very vigilant to the spread of the disease,” he told Sky’s Sophy Ridge On Sunday.

“We have a high degree of confidence that the vaccine will overcome.”

But he warned that warned the new variant was highly transmissible and could “spread like wildfire among the unvaccinated groups”.

The “vast majority” of people ending up in hospital with Covid in Bolton had not taken up the jab, despite being eligible, he said.

And Mr Hancock has warned that he does “not rule out” taking other local measures in Bolton if cases continue to rise.

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