Covid: Who can have a booster jab and how can you get one?

All over-40s in the UK will be offered a third dose of Covid vaccine, and 16 and 17-year-olds are to be given a second jab.

Pregnant women are also being urged to get vaccinated.

A booster is an extra dose of Covid vaccine, which helps prolong protection in the double-jabbed, particularly in older age groups.

Having three doses offers a 93% protection against symptomatic disease, according to UK Health Security Agency data.

The amended rule for who can get a booster are the same throughout the UK:

As well as boosters, some people with severely suppressed immune systems are being given a third primary jab as part of their basic vaccination - they may also be offered a booster at a later date.

You can wait to be contacted for an appointment, or - depending on where you live - book online.

In England, you can pre-book your booster five months (152 days) after your second dose. You will be offered an appointment six months (182 days) after your second jab. Alternatively, after six months, you can go directly to an NHS walk-in centre.

The NHS vaccine website says 40 to 49-year-olds should be able to book appointments from Monday 22 November.

An online booking portal has been launched in Scotland, and will soon be extended to people in their 40s, once earlier priority groups have been given their booster.

In Northern Ireland, appointments for over-50s and other eligible groups are available in pharmacies.

Anyone who is entitled to a booster in Wales should wait for an appointment.

Across the UK, if you've tested positive for Covid, you must wait four weeks (28 days) before having the booster, counting from the date of the test.

New guidance from the UK Health Security Agency says children aged 12 to 17 should wait 12 weeks before having the jab. This is a precaution against the extremely small risk of heart inflammation.

The longer gap does not apply to children who are deemed to be at higher risk.

You should not have the booster if you have a severe illness or high fever, but the patient information from both Pfizer and Moderna says a mild fever or a cold are not reasons to delay.

If you're aged 16 or over, the NHS App generates an NHS Covid Pass which can be used to prove your vaccination status in the UK or abroad (not to be confused with the NHS Covid-19 app which alerts you if you've been close to someone with the virus).

The NHS Covid Pass now also records whether users in England have had a booster dose. This will not be immediately available through the Covid Pass letter service, which will be updated in due course.

Boosters will appear on the Covid Pass in Wales from 29 November.

The JCVI said 16 and 17-year-olds should come forward for a second dose of the Pfizer jab - which should be given at least 12 weeks after the first.

Meanwhile, all 12 to 15-year-olds in the UK are being offered a single Pfizer Covid jab.

There is no vaccine currently approved for under-12s in the UK.

The government has also highlighted the particular risks facing pregnant women. New figures show that, of the 1,714 pregnant women admitted to hospital with Covid between 1 February and the end of September, 98% weren't vaccinated.

More than 98% of those admitted to intensive care over the same period were unvaccinated.

England's Chief Medical Office Professor Chris Whitty has urged every woman who is pregnant (or planning to become pregnant) to get their jab:

"All the medical opinion is really clear that the benefits of vaccination far outweigh the risks in every area."

All frontline NHS staff in England will have to be fully vaccinated against Covid by 1 April.

Care home staff in England had until Thursday 11 November to get vaccinated (unless they had a medical exemption).

These rules only apply in England.

Vaccination is not compulsory for other people in the UK, although people who've had two doses don't need to self-isolate after contact with a positive case.

Scotland and Wales also require Covid passports to enter some venues and events, as do a number of foreign countries.

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

Under-18s are currently being offered Pfizer, although the Moderna vaccine has also been authorised for use in children.

Most boosters will be one dose of Pfizer or a half-dose of Moderna, regardless of which jab you initially received.

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

There are extremely rare, but occasionally fatal, cases of people developing blood clots after taking the AstraZeneca vaccine.

Separately, a very small number of people have experienced a severe allergic reaction after receiving the Pfizer vaccine.

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