COVID booster jabs will be given to all over-50s this autumn

September’s rollout was originally only set to include Brits aged 65-plus or with a serious health condition

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But health chiefs have told doctors to prepare for a bigger scheme which would nearly double the number of eligible people from 17.9million to 32m

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The autumn top-up shot will be the fifth dose for people in the main priority groups and the sixth for those who are extremely vulnerable

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NHS bosses wrote to doctors on Thursday telling them to get ready to re-vaccinate all priority groups – half the UK population

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They said: “Winter will remain the season when the threat from Covid-19 is greatest both for individuals and for health communities.”

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Infection rates are surging again now, driven on by waning immunity and new Omicron strains called BA.4 and BA.5 which spread faster.

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Covid hospital admissions in England have doubled in the past fortnight from 577 on June 7 to 1,155 on Tuesday

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