Prime Minister Boris Johnson hails ‘significant milestone’ as everyone over 50 is offered a Covid jab

The Prime Minister described the achievement as a “hugely significant milestone” in the fight against Covid-19 and means that the way is paved for the next phase of the vaccine rollout.

Upon reaching the milestone, the Government has met its target of offering the jab to the top nine priority groups, including the clinically vulnerable and health and social care worker, three days ahead of its target date of April 15.

Now the Joint Committee on Vaccine and Immunisation will set out its final advice for the completion of the rollout, which is to begin this week with those in their late 40s.

In a statement, the Prime Minister revealed that the Government remains on course to offer a first jab to all adults in the UK by the end of July.

Boris Johnson said: “We have now passed another hugely significant milestone in our vaccine programme by offering jabs to everyone in the nine highest risk groups,” he said.

“That means more than 32 million people have been given the precious protection vaccines provide against Covid 19.

“I want to thank everyone involved in the vaccine rollout which has already saved many thousands of lives.

“We will now move forward with completing essential second doses and making progress towards our target of offering all adults a vaccine by the end of July.”

From today (April 13), the Moderna jab is available to NHS patients, meaning in the UK, there will be three different coronavirus vaccines on offer.

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