COVID-19: Under 50s to be offered jabs “this week” as government beats latest vaccine target | Political news

The goal of delivering a first dose of COVID vaccine to the nine most vulnerable groups by April 15 has been met, the government said.

The ministers had sworn to offer a COVID-19[female[femininejab to all over 50, clinically vulnerable workers, and health and social service workers – about 32 million people – by Thursday.

The target – for the whole of the UK – was reached three days earlier and means adults under 50 will start being invited for their first shot “in the next few days,” the number 10 said .

Almost 40 million doses of vaccine have now been donated across the UK.

This includes 32 190 576 first doses and 7 656 205 second doses.

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunization (JCVI) is expected to issue advice on when people under the age of 50 should be invited to receive their first doses as part of the next phase of the deployment.

People in their late 40s in England will be the first to be asked to book their jabs, it is understood.

The decentralized governments of Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland will decide with the NHS how to implement the JCVI advice.

Last week, the Moderna vaccine became the third vaccine – along with the Oxford-AstraZeneca and Pfizer vaccines – to start use in the UK.

Elle Taylor, Ammanford, Wales, who cares for her 82-year-old grandmother, has become the first person in the UK to receive the Moderna jab. The NHS in England will also start using it on Tuesday.

In total, the UK has purchased 17 million doses of the Moderna vaccine, enough for 8.5 million people.

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Prime Minister Boris Johnson said: “We have now taken another extremely important milestone in our immunization program by offering jabs to all nine …