Millions of patients are to be offered a Covid-19 booster jab this autumn.

Those at the highest risk of serious disease or complications caused by the virus will be given the chance to take-up another vaccination, the health secretary has confirmed.

Steve Barclay says NHS England will soon release details on how and when eligible patients will be able to join the booster programme – now entering its third year since the pandemic started in March 2020.

He added: “I would urge anyone invited – including those yet to have their first jab - to come forward as soon as possible.”

Data from last autumn’s programme showed that those who received a booster were around 53% less likely to be admitted to hospital with Covid-19 in the two to four weeks after a vaccination, compared to those who did not receive a booster.

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation has drawn up the list of groups that will be offered a booster jab based on its research. They are:

*residents in a care home for older adults

*all adults aged 65 years and over

*persons aged from 6 months to 64 years who are in a clinical risk group

*frontline health and social care workers

*persons aged 12 to 64 years who are household contacts of people with immunosuppression

*persons aged 16 to 64 years who are carers and staff working in care homes for older adults

Further information, on the choice of vaccine, will be available in due course, adds the JCVI.

Professor Wei Shen Lim, chair of Covid-19 immunisation at the JCVI said: “The autumn booster programme will continue to focus on those at greatest risk of getting seriously ill. These persons will benefit the most from a booster vaccination.

“It is important that everyone who is eligible takes up a booster this autumn – helping to prevent them from hospitalisations and deaths arising from the virus over the winter months.”

Covid cases were understood to be on the rise again last month according to monitoring by the UK Health Security Agency and the ZOE app while pharmacist Boots said sales of home test kits were also up by a third.

But Dr Mary Ramsay, Director of Public Health Programmes at the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), said it is the winter that is of particular concern.

She added: “The COVID-19 virus has not gone away and we expect to see it circulating more widely over the winter months with the numbers of people getting ill increasing.

“The booster is being offered to those at higher risk of severe illness and by taking up the booster vaccine this autumn, you will increase your protection ahead of winter, when respiratory viruses are typically at their peak.”