Nine in 10 over-65s have had first Covid-19 vaccine, says NHS
More than 17m people have now been given their first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine, according to NHS figures. - Credit: Denise Bradley
Nine out of 10 people aged 65 and over in England have had their first Covid vaccine, NHS leaders have announced.
NHS England on Monday said that the vaccination programme had jabbed more than more than 17 million people in a matter of weeks, including four in five people aged 65 to 69.
The new milestone comes as nearly two million people aged 60 to 63 in England have been sent letters inviting them to book a coronavirus jab.
This follows the NHS writing to almost 450,000 people aged 64 last week inviting them to have a jab, as well as 600,000 at-risk individuals who have recently been asked to shield.
The latest batch of invites arriving from Monday will also mean everyone in the first seven priority groups will have been offered a jab, NHS England said.
Professor Stephen Powis, the NHS's national medical director, said: "In just a few months, the NHS has made extraordinary progress in vaccinating more than 17 million people across the country and it is incredible that more than nine out of 10 people aged 65 and over have already received potentially life-saving protection.
"It is down to the hard work of NHS staff, volunteers and all the others supporting the vaccination programme, that we can now invite everyone aged 60 to 63 years old to arrange an appointment to get jabbed as soon as possible.
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"It is never too late to take up the offer and I would urge anyone eligible who has yet to do so to come forward and protect yourself and others."
A total of 17,641,792 Covid-19 vaccinations took place in England between December 8 and February 27, according to provisional NHS England data, including 17,051,245 first doses.
People can use the national booking service to reserve a slot at one of the NHS mass vaccination centres, like the ones in Norwich, Attleborough, North Walsham and Harleston or almost 200 pharmacy-led services across the country, NHS England said.
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The booking service can be accessed at www.nhs.uk/covid-vaccination.
Those who cannot go online can call 119 free of charge and NHS teams are visiting people who are housebound and cannot travel to a vaccination service.
