Health Secretary Matt Hancock said it is “highly likely” people will be vaccinated against Covid annually, as with the flu.
He told Sky News’ Sophy Ridge on Sunday programme: “I think it’s highly likely that there will be a dual-vaccination programme for the foreseeable, this is the medium-term, of flu and Covid.”
He added: “Flu vaccination rates are at their highest level ever. Over 80% of the over-65s have been vaccinated for flu this year. That’s the biggest increase, a jump on last year when it was around 70%.
“That’s very good news. It’s good news for two reasons. Firstly, to protect people against flu and secondly because it shows the vast, vast majority of over-65s are up for getting vaccinated.”
He also said said the Government was on course to reach its target of 13 million people vaccinated by mid-February.
“Yes we’re on course. The rate limiting factor at the moment is supply but that’s increasing.
“I’m very glad to say that at the moment we’re running at over 200,000 people being vaccinated every day.
“We’ve now vaccinated around one third of the over-80s in this country so we’re making significant progress but there’s still further expansion to go.
“This week we’re opening mass vaccination centres. Big sites for instance at Epsom racecourse, there’s seven going live this week with more to come next week where we will get through very large numbers of people.”
On Friday, a third coronavirus vaccine was approved for use in the UK as the country recorded the highest number of Covid-19 deaths on a single day – 1,325 people.
The latest jab, from US biotech firm Moderna, has been given the green light by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency – joining the vaccines from Pfizer/BioNTech and Oxford/AstraZeneca which are already being used in the UK.
Nearly 1.5 million people in the UK have already been vaccinated with either the Pfizer or AstraZeneca vaccine, with the Government aiming to jab 15 million of those most at risk by mid-February.
