A decision on whether over-50s will be given a third coronavirus jab is expected to be made within weeks.
Ministers are said to be planning to deliver an average of almost 2.5million third doses a week, with 2,000 pharmacies rolling out the scheme.
If it is approved, all people in the age bracket, plus the clinically vulnerable, in England are expected to be offered a booster vaccine before Christmas.
It comes as millions of people are under strict lockdown in China as the country battles to contain its largest coronavirus outbreak in months.
China reported 55 new locally transmitted coronavirus cases on Monday as an outbreak of the highly transmissible Delta variant reached more than 20 cities and more than a dozen provinces.
