GPs across the country will be starting to book coronavirus vaccination appointments over the coming days.
As a million more doses are set to arrive in Britain next week, the elderly and care home workers will begin to receive letters organising their appointments.
The jabs will come just days after vaccinations began in hospitals this week.
According to Mirror Online, details of the next stage of the staggered rollout emerged as Prof Chris Whitty said social distancing restrictions could start being lifted once 20 million vulnerable Brits have been vaccinated.
The Chief Medical Officer also offered hope of a return to normality before Spring.
The NHS has been advised either 1.2 million or 1.6 million more doses will arrive next week, on top of the 800,000 doses this week.
The remainder of an initial four million doses for December will arrive the week after.
It came as “significant” reactions detected in two people who had the Pfizer jab caused a halt yesterday (Wed) to all vaccinations in people with a history of allergic reactions.
Prof Whitty was asked by MPs on the Joint Coronavirus : Lessons Learnt inquiry when vaccinations could enable social distancing restrictions to be lifted.
He said: “This disease is one that is very predictably much more dangerous than for older people and people with pre-existing health conditions.
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“Once we’ve gone through that first list which takes us down to roughly 20 million people there are going to be some wider choices about where we go from there on.
“Those will be important ethical and political choices as well as clinical choices.
“Once you got to that stage, I think, a conversation about now what do we want to do next becomes a really important conversation.”
Prof Whitty suggested this point was unlikely to come until the busy January and February period for the NHS has been passed.
He said: “I think very few people would recommend having starting to really remove things during a high risk period of the year which the winter always will be for respiratory infections.
“I want to be very clear, for the next three months we will not have sufficient protection.”
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Assuming the much anticipated Oxford-AstraZeneca jab gains approval it is likely at least 20 million Brits will be vaccinated by the end of February.
Britain has staked big on this candidate, pre-ordering 100 million doses.
Chief Scientific Adviser Sir Patrick Vallance appeared to tell MPs whether younger age groups are ever offered a vaccine is dependent on it being approved.
“We’ve got a lot to do to roll out the vaccines to make sure the vulnerable are protected,” he said.
“We’re a long way off that yet no matter how you view the rest of the population, that is dependent on things like, does the AstraZeneca vaccine get approved.”
Prof Whitty said “three of four” vaccines should be available next year when “wider choices” would need to be made about who gets them.
Ending social distancing after most of the 20 million most at risk are vaccinated would still leave many younger Brits getting the virus and developing Long Covid.
Lasting side effects can include brain fog, fatigue, muscle pain, breathlessness and lung damage.
Prof Whitty added: “It will still lead a lot of people who could become ill with this and could in some cases have serious outcomes.”
Canada yesterday (Wed) became the second country to approve the Pfizer vaccine.
It came on the day it emerged to NHS workers who received it on Tuesday had suffered “significant” allergic reactions.
NHS England said “both are recovering well”.
