May 22, 2021 10.12 am This story is over 34 months old

NHS opens COVID vaccinations to 32 and 33 year olds

Third expansion of eligibility in a week
A young woman getting a COVID-19 vaccine at the Lincolnshire Showground. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite

NHS England has opened bookings for COVID-19 vaccinations for people aged 32 and 33 in Lincolnshire and across the UK.

The third expansion of eligibility in just one week comes after news that the NHS has now delivered more than 50 million total doses of the COVID-19 jab. More than 4 in 10 adults have had both doses.

Texts inviting people to book a vaccination will be sent to those aged 33 from Saturday and those aged 32 from Monday.

You can book a free COVID vaccine now online here.

You can book both jabs at the same time and can choose from a list of NHS vaccination centres or pharmacy-led vaccination services as well as some GP-led sites.

The government said that people under 40 will not be given the AstraZeneca vaccine due to blood clot fears.

This meant that thee is a shortage of the Pfizer vaccine in Lincolnshire at the moment.

Thus, this week people under 40 have been unable to find vaccination sites in Lincoln and had to book in neighbouring towns.

The supply issue is expected to be addressed by the end of the month.

Since the booking service opened for people under 40 just over a week ago, 2.6 million more bookings have already been made across England.

On the advice of the government and Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), people aged 50 and over and the clinically vulnerable are having their second doses brought forward, where possible, to counter the spread of the variant B1.617.2 originating in India. Nobody needs to contact the NHS and people will be told to rebook if they need to.