People aged 50 and over can now book their covid jab.
As the vaccination programme marks the 100th day new invitations are now going out nationally to millions of people aged 50 to 54 in the latest stage of the programme, the biggest in NHS history and fastest in Europe.
NHS Chief Executive Sir Simon Stevens said: “Just 100 days since the NHS gave the world’s first Covid jab outside of clinical trials, our vaccine programme passes another milestone as we now invite everyone aged 50 and over to book their vaccination.”
Today (March 17) marks 100 days since the NHS gave the first dose of the Covid-19 vaccination on December 8, 2020, and broke ground in the global race to protect people against the coronavirus.
Healthcare teams continue to urge anyone yet to be vaccinated to take up the offer as around two million additional text messages go out from today with a link allowing people also to pick a convenient slot at an NHS vaccine centre, or pharmacy-led service through the national booking service website.
Bookings for covid vaccines can be made online or call 119.
The text alerts will be followed up with 2.4 million letters landing on doorsteps later in the week.
The NHS has already delivered a vaccine to more than 20 million people in England as supplies have flowed since early December, with the NHS committed to offering vaccinations as quickly as available supply allows in the coming weeks.
The latest batch of national invites follows a significant boost to bookings last week, with a major push by text message and letter prompting slots booked almost to double in 48 hours from 340,000 on March 7 to 609,000 on March 9 when texts were sent.
