Coronavirus booster jabs could be needed for the next 10 years, a senior figure in the NHS has said.
NHS Providers boss Chris Hopson spoke about the issue on national radio.
Mr Hopson told Times Radio the jabs would "probably" be required on "an annual basis for... at least five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10 years".
"Flu jabs start in September, so if we're going to do one jab in one arm, one jab in the other, we really do need to know quite quickly," he said.
The former Health Secretary Matt Hancock had suggested there could be a winter lockdown.
Speaking previously, he said: "We are going to have a very significant flu vaccination drive this autumn - potentially at the same time you might get your Covid booster jab and your flu jab at the same time, we are testing whether that can be done."
Asthma UK said everyone with asthma who is eligible for a free annual flu vaccine should be on the list when booster coronavirus vaccines are rolled out, following months of confusion over the existing jabs.
Professor Saul Faust told BBC Radio 4's World At One programme: "I'm not the right person to say definitely, but it sounded very much like the Secretary of State (Matt Hancock) is expecting to announce a booster programme.
"From the trial point of view, we've got very tight timelines. The results of the trial, both in terms of the side effects and the blood test data which shows immunology and how the vaccines are working against all the current circulating variants, those data will be available to JCVI by the end of August."
