COVID-19 vaccines rolled out to over-70s and clinically extremely vulnerable people from today
People aged 70 and over and clinically extremely vulnerable individuals will begin receiving invitations for COVID-19 vaccinations from today (18th January), the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has confirmed.
With a large proportion of the mobility sector’s customer base being made up of elderly and disabled people, this announcement will come as welcome news to mobility retailers as over-70s and clinically extremely vulnerable people will be able to start going out and about more safely.
Vaccinating these groups will be key to recovery in the mobility and assistive technology sectors after the pandemic has had an adverse impact on businesses throughout 2020 and 2021. The latest British Retail Consortium’s (BRC) figures show that total year on year footfall for 2020 fell by 43.4 percent, covering 29 November 2020-2 January 2021.
The NHS has so far been working to vaccinate the first two priority cohorts recommended by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), which are care home residents and staff, and those aged 80 and over and frontline health and care staff.
DHSC says vaccinating the first two groups will remain the priority but vaccination sites which have enough supply and capacity for vaccinating further people are allowed to offer vaccinations to the over-70s and clinically extremely vulnerable people.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson said: “Today is a significant milestone in our vaccination programme as we open it up to millions more people who are most at risk from COVID-19.
“We are now delivering the vaccine at a rate of 140 jabs a minute and I want to thank everyone involved in this national effort. We have a long way to go and there will doubtless be challenges ahead – but by working together we are making huge progress in our fight against this virus.”
As more people are vaccinated and with the announcement of seven new NHS vaccination centres being opened last week, the UK Government hopes that it can reach the prime minister’s commitment of offering vaccinations to the first four priority groups by mid-February.
Health and Social Care Secretary Matt Hancock said: “Now that more than half of all over-80s have had their jab, we can begin vaccinating the next most vulnerable groups. Where an area has already reached the vast majority of groups 1 to 2, they can now start opening up the programme to groups 3 to 4.
“We are working day and night to make sure everyone who is 70 and over, our health and social care workers and the clinically extremely vulnerable are offered the vaccine by the middle of February and our NHS heroes are making huge strides in making this happen.
“This measure does not mean our focus on getting care homes, healthcare staff and those aged 80 and over vaccinated is wavering – it will remain our utmost priority over the coming weeks to reach the rest of these groups.”
