All over-16s in Britain are set to be offered coronavirus jabs as ministers expect scientists to formally back the move within days.
The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) is expected to recommend vaccines for those aged 16 and 17 in an attempt to build up immunity in young people.
Britain has sufficient reserves of coronavirus vaccine to extend the programme to younger age groups and appointments are expected to begin within a fortnight.
It came as Professor Paul Elliott, director of the React programme that uses home testing to improve our understanding of the coronavirus, said the highest rates of infection were in people between the ages of 13 and 24.
Speaking to Times Radio, he said: “What we found in our
