All over 18s to be offered vaccine by next week in Wales as England opens up to under 30s in days

EVERYONE over 18 in Wales will be offered a vaccine by next Monday – as England is set to open up to under 30 year olds in days.

The Welsh First Minister confirmed it wants to give all adults their second jab by the end of September as he steps up plans to jab the nation and stop the spread of new Covid variants.

 Read our coronavirus live blogfor the latest updates

Under 18s in Wales will be given a jab appointment by Monday

At a press conference this lunchtime, Mr Drakeford said: “We will make the offer of vaccination to all eligible adults six weeks ahead of schedule and we expect to reach 75 per cent take-up across all priority groups and age groups a month ahead of target.

“This is a remarkable achievement and a tribute to the hard work of all those involved in the programme – to all those doing the complex work of planning behind the scenes and to the thousands of people vaccinating and helping to run the clinics across the country.”

It comes after Matt Hancock said yesterday that more age groups are expected to get their calls for jabs this week.

He said: “This week we will be opening up vaccines to the under-30s and so we are getting a step closer to the point when we have been able to offer the vaccine to all adults in this country.”

Everyone over 30 has now been told they can come forward for a jab, and this is expected to be expanded in the next few days.

The Health Sec will give a Commons statement on the latest Covid news this afternoon at around 3.30pm.

Ministers are locked in a race against the virus as they try to get as many people doubled jabbed as possible to halt the spread of the variant.

The India variant of the virus is said to be around 40 per cent more transmissible and cases have rocketed up past the 5,000 daily infections in recent days.

It comes as:

• The PM is expected to look at Covid stats this week and make a decision on the June 21 unlocking over the weekend – before announcing it on June 14
• It’s possible masks, social distancing and other rules could stay in place for longer
• 23 cases of the Nepal spike of concern of the Indian variant have been reported in the UK
• Ministers say it’s still too soon to say whether unlocking can continue – and say they are “open” to a possible delay
• The Indian Covid strain is 40 per cent more transmissible than other Covid variants, Matt Hancock has warned

Kids may be on track to get the vaccine as soon as August after it was approved as safe last week for over 12s.