All adults in England now eligible for Covid vaccines with jabs opened up to 18-year-olds

As of 7am tomorrow (June 18) anyone over the age of 18 will be able to book their first appointments,

The milestone comes fewer than 200 days after the first Covid vaccine outside of a clinical trial was given to Maggie Keenan in Coventry. Since then 60m vaccinations (first and second combined) have been distributed across England – with 72m given out around the UK.

NHS England chief executive Sir Simon Stevens said: ‘This is truly a watershed moment: whoever you are, wherever you live, if you are aged 18 or older and you are yet to book your Covid jab, today should be the day you make that happen.

‘Only months after delivering the world-first first jab hard working NHS staff have given more than 60m vaccinations in England alone, saving thousands of lives and giving the entire country hope for a brighter future.

‘Extensive planning and the tireless hard work of staff and volunteers have made the NHS vaccine programme an historic success.

‘Now we are delivering a final push to protect the country so when your time comes, or if you haven’t done so already, please play your part and come forward to make your first appointment or get your second dose.’

The NHS will start to send around 1.5 million texts to people aged between 18 and 20 from tomorrow morning encouraging them to book their appointments.

SEE ALSO: Covid cases ‘increasing exponentially’ in younger groups

High demand is expected after the first group of people in their 20s to be offered vaccines booked more than one million appointments in a single day.

Vaccine distribution has been accelerated as fears over the spread of the Delta variant were raised.

Health and secretary Matt Hancock said: ‘In our race between the vaccine and the virus, we’re approaching the final stretch and we are doing all we can to vaccinate people as quickly as possible with first and second doses. When you get the call, get the jab so we can put this pandemic behind us for good.”

Text invitations appear as an alert from NHSvaccine and include a web link to the NHS website to reserve an appointment. People can also call 119 to book.

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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