EVERY adult in the Tyne Valley and Northumberland will be offered the coronavirus vaccine by autumn. 

That's the vow of health secretary Matt Hancock, who outlined the government's vaccination strategy on Sunday. 

In a live interview with the BBC, Mr Hancock said he hoped every person offered the vaccine would take up the offer.

"Every adult will be offered the vaccine by the autumn," he said. "I totally agree it is very important. Of course we have to do it according to the need, for instance, someone in a care home is many more times likely to die when they get coronavirus than someone like me, in my 40s."

Mr Hancock said 350 million dozes of the vaccine were on order.

He added: "They are not all here yet and we are rolling them out as fast as they can get delivered, but we are going to be able to have enough to offer a vaccine to everyone over the age of 18 by the autumn.

"I really hope everyone will take up that offer."

The health secretary said that by February 15, the aim was to have offered a vaccine to everyone in the top four most vulnerable groups -the over 70s, the clinically extremely vulnerable, care home residents and their carers, and NHS and social care staff.

He added: "Now we are on track for delivering that but it still takes weeks after, two to three weeks for them to get immunity, and during that time we will keep going down the age spectrum. 

"We want to get to all the over 50s by the spring."