Covid booster jab could be available from September

Nadhim Zahawi said the booster will be made available to over 70s at the end of summer

Covid booster jabs could be made available to people over the age of 70 from as early as September, according to the vaccines minister. Speaking to the Daily Telegraph, Nadhim Zahawi explained that those in the 70+ age bracket, along with those classed as clinically vulnerable and frontline health and social care workers will be prioritised for booster doses. Close to 30 million people across the UK have now received the first dose of their Covid vaccine. As the rollout has been taking place, scientists have been working on booster jabs designed to fight variant strains of the virus. "The most likely date will be September," Zahawi said, when asked when the first boosters would be available. "Jonathan Van-Tam [the deputy chief medical officer] thinks that if we are going to see a requirement for a booster jab to protect the most vulnerable, [it] would be around September." As well as the booster update, Zahawi also said that he expected there to be as many as eight different vaccines in circulation by the autumn. Several of the additional vaccines will be made in the UK, with the Moderna vaccine - of which the government has ordered 17 million doses - expected to be rolled out in a matter of weeks. The news comes as the UK prepares to ease its lockdown restrictions on Monday, allowing people to meet outside in groups of up to six or two households.