Who is eligible for the fourth Covid booster jab?

A new rollout of Covid booster jabs will begin this week as eligible people will be offered a fourth dose of the vaccine. It comes as cases of coronavirus rise across the UK, with a new sub-variant of Omicron - called BA.2 - linked to the increase.

Around 552,000 have tested positive for the virus in the previous seven days, nearly 40 per cent more than the week prior. Health secretary Sajid Javid said that despite rising Covid cases, the government’s “level of concern hasn’t changed”. “Although case numbers are rising, infections are rising and indeed hospital numbers are rising, they are still way below their peak," Mr Javid said. "It’s also important for us when we review this, to understand why they are rising and that is primarily due to the increased social mixing we’re seeing after the country’s opened up, but also the BA.2 sub-variant of Omicron which we know is on the one hand more infectious but, on the other hand, we know that our vaccines work just as well against this sub-variant." Read more: Hospitalisations of people with Covid-19 have also increased by around 25 per cent with deaths remaining relatively unchanged.

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) has advised a spring jab should be offered to those most vulnerable to COVID-19 as a precautionary measure.

The government hopes the new booster jab programme will provide a fresh round of protection for people who are eligible. Those who can expect to be contacted about receiving the fourth jab are care home residents, people aged 75 and over as well as those who are immunosuppressed.