UK: Locals above 50 to be given third dose against coronavirus in autumn: Reports

In a bid to make the country completely covid-free, the UK government will be offering a third shot of the coronavirus vaccines to everyone aged above 50 in the autumn.

To carry out the process, two options are being tested under the supervision of the country’s chief medical officer, Chris Whitty. The first option is being designed keeping in mind the new variants that are evolving all over the world. The second one will be a third shot against the already existing versions of Pfizer-BioNTech, Oxford-AstraZeneca, and Moderna, as reported by The Times newspaper.

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Till now, more than 34.6 million people, out of a population of 67 million, have been administered the first dose of the coronavirus vaccine. The government is hoping to be able to eradicate the virus completely from the country by next Christmas.

Britain already has nearly 510 million doses of eight different coronavirus vaccines — some being under development — and the country will be buying an additional 60 million doses of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine soon, Matt Hancock announced.

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This announcement came a few days after the government announced that the secondary school students could be offered Covid-19 vaccinations from September under plans being developed by the NHS, it is claimed, as Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab urged caution on the “last lap” of the fight against coronavirus.

The country has also decided to invest £29.3 million in new coronavirus laboratories in an effort to "future-proof the country from the threat of new variants," the Boris Johnson-led government announced on Wednesday.