Vaccines are at the heart of the UK Government\u2019s strategy to manage COVID-19.
\nThe UK is deploying the most ambitious vaccination programme in history. So far, over 17 million people have received a vaccine across the UK.
\n4. The Government has achieved its goal to offer a first dose of the vaccine by 15 February to all those in the four most vulnerable cohorts identified by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI). This includes elderly care home
\nresidents, those aged 70 and over, those with conditions that would leave them clinically extremely vulnerable to serious illness and death as a consequence of COVID-19, and frontline health and social care staff. The NHS has now started to vaccinate the next set of cohorts (JCVI cohorts 5 to 9), including adults aged 50 and over and people whose underlying health conditions make them more likely to suffer serious disease. The Government aims for everyone who is 50 and over, or at risk, to have been offered a first dose of the vaccine by 15 April, and for everyone aged 18 and over to have been offered a first dose by 31 July.<\/p>\n