Health Secretary Steve Barclay has ordered 26 million people to be jabbed with the new variant busting Covid booster by December to ease winter pressure on the NHS.
But there are no plans to give the fourth jab to under 50s, NHS England has confirmed.
The vaccine to protect against Omicron will begin rolling out in eight days - the same day as Liz Truss is expected to be confirmed as the new PM.
But so far the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation has decreed no younger age groups other than the vulnerable should be offered the extra protection.
An NHS England source said: “They decide who is eligible for the jabs and we deliver them.”
And Independent Sage chair Deenan Pillay said that instead of doling out fourth jabs ministers should concentrate on the one in ten who have not had their first
The virologist added: “It’s much more important for people who haven’t been vaccinated to get vaccinated. This booster won’t be a game changer.”
The NHS will become the first healthcare system in the world to use a bivalent which protects against both Omicron and the original virus types.
Staff and residents in care homes and the housebound will be the first in line starting a week tomorrow.
The following week the National Booking Service will open for those aged 75 and over to make an appointment.
The immunosuppressed will be able to walk into GPs surgeries and pharmacies to get their jabs on request.
NHS boss Amanda Pritchard said: “I strongly encourage anyone who is invited to take up an autumn booster and flu jab to do so quickly.
“It will give you maximum protection this winter.”
And NHS vaccination director Steve Russell added: “This winter will be the first time we see the real effects of both Covid and flu in full circulation.”
The roll out will then move onto the over 50s and over 5s in clinical risk groups and boosters will be either the newly developed Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccines.
More than 126 million covid vaccines have been given out since grandmother Maggie Keenan, 92, became the first person in the world to receive one outside a trial when she was jabbed in Coventry in December 2020.
