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Matt Hancock says it is ‘highly likely’ Brits will need annual Covid jab as 200,000 are being vaccinated every day
BRITS are "highly likely" to need a Covid vaccination every year for the foreseeable future, Matt Hancock warned today.
The Health Secretary said the UK could require a dual vaccination programme with yearly jabs to protect against both flu and coronavirus.
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Speaking to Sophy Ridge on Sky News, Mr Hancock said: “I think it's highly likely that there will be a dual-vaccination programme for the foreseeable, this is the medium-term, of flu and Covid.”
He added: “Flu vaccination rates are at their highest level ever. Over 80 per cent of the over-65s have been vaccinated for flu this year.
“That's the biggest increase, a jump on last year when it was around 70 per cent.
“That's very good news. It's good news for two reasons.
“Firstly, to protect people against flu and secondly because it shows the vast, vast majority of over-65s are up for getting vaccinated.”
Mr Hancock also revealed that every adult is on course to get the Covid vaccine by autumn with 200,000 Brits already getting jabbed each day, Matt Hancock said today.
This would be part of the UK's "exit strategy" out of the pandemic and revealed 350million doses of the vaccine are on order.
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Mr Hancock told the BBC's Andrew Marr show: "We are going to have enough to offer the vaccine to everyone aged over 18 by autumn."
But the MP explained this will have to be carried out "according to need" with the most vulnerable offered the vaccine first.
He also revealed the UK has vaccinated around 2million people over the past week - more people than it did in the entirety of December.
This puts the government on course to reach its target of 13million people vaccinated by mid-February, he explained.
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But despite the glimmer of hope, Mr Hancock urged people to still stay home if they can as "every flexibility" of the rules could prove fatal.
And he refused to speculate on whether the lockdown rules could be strengthened amid claims from scientists they are "too lax" in stopping the spread.
Asked about the prospect of tighter restrictions, he said: "I don't want to speculate because the most important message is not whether the Government will further strengthen the rules.
"The most important thing is that people stay at home and follow the rules that we have got.
"And that, in terms of the scale of the impact on the cases, that is the most important thing we can do collectively as a society."
It comes as Boris Johnson vowed to vaccinate at least 200,000 Brits a day by next week — with the Army joining his Covid war.
The PM said that by next Friday, January 15, the rollout of the vaccine would be hugely ramped up,
A new national booking service for people to be vaccinated will also be unveiled - and no one will have to travel more than ten miles to get one, the PM added.
He said more than 1,400 hospitals, GP practices and pharmacies would be immunising patients by the end of next week.
And he insisted he had "no doubt" that there would be enough supply to offer everyone in the top four vulnerable groups a vaccine by his February 15 deadline.
He added: "We are in a race against time, but I can assure you we are doing everything we can to vaccinate as many people as we can across the whole of the UK."
From tomorrow, the government will begin publishing daily vaccination statistics as well as Boris' full battle plan.
Professor Peter Horby, chairman of the New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group (Nervtag), warned today people may have to get a vaccine "every few years" if it needs to be updated against new variants.
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He said the information to date on the success of vaccines against new variants is "very encouraging", but warned the virus "will not go away".
He told the BBC's Andrew Marr Show: "This one (virus) I think will not go away. We're going to have to live with it but that may change significantly.
"It may well become more of an endemic virus, that's with us all the time and may cause some seasonal pressures and some excess deaths, but is not causing the huge disruption that we're seeing now."
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It comes as Joan Collins, 87, today revealed she has become the latest celeb to receive the vaccine.
She follows the Queen and Prince Philip and 81-year-old Sir Ian McKellen.
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