The NHS has started offering autumn Covid boosters to the most vulnerable.

Many pharmacies also now sell the Covid jab privately.

The following groups can have an NHS Covid booster between 3 October and 20 December:

The NHS has already contacted more than 11 million people, but those who qualify for the jab can also book their own appointments via the NHS App, external, GPs, pharmacies, drop-in clinics, external or by calling 119, external.

Anyone also entitled to the flu jab, external will be offered this at the same time.

But patients are advised not to have the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccine at the same time as a flu or Covid jab, external.

Vaccines from four different companies are in use across the UK: Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, Sanofi/GSK and Novavax.

The NHS spring booster campaign used mRNA vaccines made by either Pfizer or Moderna. Both have been updated to help protect against more recent strains of Covid.

People were advised to take whichever they were offered, as all provide protection against severe illness or death.

AstraZeneca withdrew its Covid vaccine worldwide because of the surplus of updated vaccines from its competitors.

At the firm’s request, in May 2024, the European Medicines Authority withdrew authorisation for the vaccine,, external which is no longer being manufactured or supplied.

A number of High Street chemists and private clinics sell and administer the Pfizer Covid vaccine directly to the public.

The cost varies from about £45 to £99.

You need to be aged 12 or above, and must not have had a Covid vaccine in the previous three months. You also need to talk to a health professional to check that it is suitable.

A protein-based booster vaccine made by Novavax, which works differently to the Pfizer and Moderna jabs, should also be available to buy soon.

Moderna is hoping to launch a combined flu and Covid vaccine in 2025 or 2026, after the jab passed a vital part of final-stage scientific checks in June 2024.

Pfizer and BioNTech are testing a similar two-in-one mRNA vaccine against flu and Covid.

If you have Covid, or think you might, the NHS recommends delaying vaccination until you feel better., external

It also advises postponing if you have a high temperature or feel otherwise unwell with any illness.

But there is no need to wait if you have recently recovered from Covid and feel well.

The vaccines do not infect people with Covid, and cannot cause positive test results.

For most people, side effects are mild, external. The most common include a sore arm, headache, chills, fatigue and nausea.

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

Very rarely myocarditis – inflammation of the heart muscle – has been linked to the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines.

It has also been listed as a rare possible side effect of the Novavax vaccine, after a very small number of cases were reported during clinical trials.

There have also been extremely rare, but occasionally fatal,, external cases of people developing blood clots after taking the AstraZeneca vaccine.

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

Patients with serious allergies should talk to their healthcare professional before being vaccinated.