Covid: When will I get the vaccine?

Anyone aged 18 or over can now book their first jab across the UK.

People over 40 in England and Scotland are also being invited to get their second Covid jab. Walk-in clinics are also offering first and second jabs without an appointment.

Anyone aged 18 or over can now book a jab in England, either online or by calling 119. You can also visit a walk-in clinic without an appointment. Check your local health providers and social media groups for details.

By 19 July, it's hoped that all adults will have had their first dose and everyone aged over 40 - and the clinically extremely vulnerable - will have been offered their second.

In Scotland, over-18s can now register to get the vaccine on the NHS inform website or by calling 0800 030 8013.

Over-18s can also get their jab without an appointment at all the mass vaccination centres in Lothian. Other health boards are offering drop-in vaccination clinics as well. Check local websites and social media for details.

In Wales, over-18s can get the vaccine.

In Northern Ireland, over-18s can book online or call 0300 200 7813

Over-40s in England and Scotland are being encouraged to get second Covid jab as soon as possible. The gap between doses has been reduced from 12 weeks to eight because of the Delta variant.

The NHS will be contacting patients directly in England,but you can also rearrange your appointment yourself online, or by calling 119.

As with first jabs, a number of walk-in clinics running across the country offer second doses without an appointment. Again, check local health providers and social media groups for details.

In Scotland anyone whose second appointment is more than eight weeks after their first can rebook it via the NHS Inform website or by calling 0800 030 8013.

In Northern Ireland, the interval between doses has been reduced from 10 weeks to six weeks for appointments scheduled after 14 June 2021.

In Wales, the government says vaccination clinics "are accelerating second doses", and that people will be contacted by their local health boards in due course.

For most people, getting vaccinated is not mandatory, although the government is urging everyone who can have the vaccine to get it.

Vaccinations will be compulsory for staff at care homes in England, and may be extended to include more NHS staff.

Some private companies have said their staff must be vaccinated, including the publisher Bloomsbury, Pimlico Plumbers, and the airline Cathay Pacific.

In addition, a number of countries are only allowing fully-vaccinated travellers to enter.

The government in England has also been piloting a number of large scale events where entry is reserved for spectators who can prove their vaccination status via the NHS Covid Pass.

The UK is using vaccines made by Pfizer-BioNtech, Oxford-AstraZeneca, and Moderna.

People under 40 are being offered Pfizer or Moderna rather than Oxford-AstraZeneca because of concerns about a possible connection with extremely rare cases of blood clots.

But the UK's medicines regulator says the benefits of the vaccine outweigh the risks for most people.

A single-dose Covid vaccine made by Janssen has also been approved for use in the UK by the medicines regulator. Twenty million doses are due to arrive later this year.

The Delta variant is believed to be around 60% more infectious than the previous dominant variant in the UK, the Alpha. It's also thought to be twice as likely to result in hospital admissions.

However, analysis by Public Health England (PHE) shows that two doses of either the Pfizer or AstraZeneca vaccine are highly effective at preventing hospital admissions for infected patients.

Vaccine developers are able to update their jabs to target new variants. Oxford researchers have begun to test a new version of the AZ vaccine (targeting the Beta variant first detected in South Africa) in volunteers. Results are expected later this year.

At present, official guidance says everyone should get the same vaccine for both doses. But in rare circumstances - if only one vaccine is available, or it's not known which was given for the first dose - a different vaccine can be used.

If you have already had a first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine, you should also have a second dose. Only those who suffered a rare blood clot should not, the regulator says.

A decision to vaccinate all 12 to 17-year-olds is unlikely to be recommended by UK vaccine experts imminently, the BBC has been told.

Certain groups of children may still be offered a Covid jab - but not all.

Vaccinating children could help protect other people, but the risk to youngsters from catching Covid remains extremely low.

The Pfizer vaccine has now been approved as safe for 12 to 15-year-olds in the UK.

Moderna says its Covid vaccine is "highly effective" in adolescents aged 12-17, and it will soon ask global regulators to approve its use for this age group. Other manufacturers are also carrying out trials.

Early research suggests a third dose of the AZ vaccine - given more than six months after the second - boosts antibodies and protection against the virus.

But it's not clear if a third dose is needed yet because two doses may offer good protection for an extended period on their own.

The Cov-Boost study is testing whether it will be necessary to re-vaccinate some people in the autumn.

The UK has ordered eight vaccines and expects to receive 517 million doses.

These include another 60 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine (on top of the original order of 40 million) to be used as part of a booster programme in the autumn.

Vaccines supplied by CureVac will be designed to protect against the most concerning new variants.

The UK's vaccine committee says pregnant women should be offered a jab.

The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are preferable, they say, because data relating to 90,000 pregnant women has not raised any safety concerns.

Data on how the AZ vaccine works in pregnant women may become available in the near future.

A very small number of people have experienced a severe allergic reaction - known as anaphylaxis - after the Pfizer vaccine.

You should discuss any serious allergies with your healthcare professional before being vaccinated.

Most people will not be affected in any way, although side-effects with all vaccines are possible.

The most common ones include a sore arm, headache, chills, fatigue and nausea.

They are part of the body's normal immune response to vaccines and tend to resolve within a day or two.