Covid vaccine offered to 40-year-olds in England

People aged 40 and over in England are now able to book their Covid jabs, NHS officials say.

Text messages will be sent to 40- and 41-year-olds, directing them to the national booking service.

Since the vaccination programme began, in December, about 34 million people have had at least one dose in the UK - nearly two-thirds of the adult population.

Meanwhile, more than 13,500 UK adults have now had two Covid jabs.

The extension of the rollout comes just days after vaccinations were opened to 42-year-olds in England.

NHS England chief executive Sir Simon Stevens said: "With nine-tenths of people aged 45 and over having been jabbed, nearly three-quarters of a million new appointments were made in just two days as our booking service opened to people aged 42 to 44."

People who cannot access the booking service online can call the service on 119 to book jabs.

Northern Ireland has opened its vaccination programme to 35-39-year-olds.

Wales, meanwhile, has been offering jabs to the over-40s, as well as younger people in some areas.

And Scotland has been inviting 45-49-year-olds.

The government plans to vaccinate the rest of the adult population by the end of July.

The NHS currently uses three vaccines against coronavirus:

And the government has ordered an extra 60 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine as part of its plans for a vaccination booster programme in the autumn.