The NHS spring booster campaign will offer jabs to limited groups of vulnerable patients from 1 April.

More than 9.7 million people in England received a top-up vaccination during the most recent autumn booster campaign.

Many pharmacies also sell the Covid jab privately.

The autumn booster campaign ended on 31 January. As at 26 January, 9,794,507 people in England had received a top-up dose since 3 October.

The Spring Covid booster campaign will start on 1 April and run until 17 June. Vaccinations will be offered to:

Those who will turn 75 years old between 1 April and 17 June 2025 can have the jab.

Eligible members of the public should be able to book appointments from 25 March for vaccination from 1 April.

The NHS uses vaccines from two companies across the UK: Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna.

People are advised to take whichever vaccine they are offered, as both provide protection against severe illness or death.

AstraZeneca pulled 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, 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 per single dose varies but is typically between £75 and £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, is also available.

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 is also testing a similar two-in-one vaccine against flu and Covid.

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

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

However, 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. 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.

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