LONDON (Reuters) – Britain will begin giving COVID-19 injections to people 65 and older on Monday as it nears its goal of offering vaccines to 15 million people in priority groups, including the elderly and primary care health workers .
The government set a deadline on Monday to give a first dose of vaccine to everyone in the four major priority segments, including all people over 70, a goal it is likely to achieve.
According to the latest official figures, 14.56 million people have been injected, allowing health officials to extend the program to 65-69 year olds and other clinically vulnerable people.
The National Health Service (NHS) said that about 1 million people had already received invitations.
“Each shot in the arm is another step closer to returning to normalcy in the future and so we are now inviting the next priority group to book their appointments,” Vaccine Minister Nadhim Zahawi said in a statement.
Britain, which has recorded more than 120,000 deaths from COVID-19, was the first Western country to start mass vaccinations in December and is ahead of other European countries in rolling out the shots.
Reporting by Michael Holden; Editing by Helen Popper