Severely obese people with BMIs over 40 should get a Covid vaccine BEFORE millions of healthy Brits aged 50 to 65, official guidance confirms

• Official advice says morbidly obese people should be included in 'at-risk' group
•  One in eight adults in UK are classed as morbidly obese – the fattest category
• Morbidly people are almost twice as likely to die from Covid, hospital data shows

The fattest people in the UK will be prioritised over millions of Britons aged 50 to 65 for a coronavirus vaccine, Government guidance has confirmed.

Official advice says morbidly obese people should be included in the 'at-risk' adult group and get access ahead of everyone under 65.

One in eight adults in the UK are classed as morbidly obese – the fattest category – or about 2million people.  

Morbidly obese people, defined by having a BMI of over 40, are almost twice as likely to die from Covid-19 than healthy people, hospital data shows. For comparison, a healthy BMI is in the 18.5 to 24.9 range.

Also included in the 'at risk' category are diabetics. While type 1 diabetes is largely genetic, being overweight accounts for the majority of cases of type 2. 

It has been known for months that 'at risk' people with underlying health conditions would get a Covid-19 vaccine ahead of under-65s. 

But the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) has only now  revealed which conditions come under the category.

The updated advice was revealed in Public Health England guidance for vaccines published on the Government website yesterday.

Also included in the priority group are asthmatics, kidney patients and people with weakened immune systems.  

The first few million doses of Covid-19 vaccines, expected to be dished out next month, were originally to be reserved for care home residents and their carers. 

But it emerged yesterday that NHS workers will be the first to be protected due to logistical issues with storing and distributing a vaccine. 

After healthcare staff and care homes, next in line are all those aged 80, followed by anyone over 75, over-70s and then people above 65.

But, according to the latest guidance, morbidly obese people and other high risk adults such as cancer and heart and lung disease patients will be next ahead of everyone else.

It means morbidly obese Brits will get their hands on a jab even before pregnant women.

Government sources have said it is 'very likely' Pfizer will be the firstvaccine licensed. 

The American giant - most famous for making Viagra - was the first to publish results on its jab earlier this month, showing it's 95 per cent effective at preventing Covid-19.

Final safety data for the Pfizer jab was given to regulators on Monday and officials are quietly confident the UK can get approval ahead of the US and the EU. 

But the jab needs to be stored at -70°C (-94°F), which requires special special fridges and can only be thawed in batches of 1,000, posing a logistical nightmare for the NHS. 

Health bosses are gambling the Oxford-developed AstraZeneca jab, which costs a fraction of the price and can be kept in a normal fridge, will be approved in a matter of weeks.

It's thought Britain could have 19million doses of Oxford and AstraZeneca's coronavirus vaccine by the end of the year. 

But confusing trial results from Oxford found under-55s accidentally given too little of the vaccine actually had better protection from coronavirus than those who got the full doses, making it unclear how effective the vaccine really is. 

The MHRA is doing the same analysis of Pfizer's jab and 'emergency approval' does not bypass any safety checks but means it can be given out as soon as regulators are satisfied, rather than waiting for official paperwork to be finalised. This was made possible by a specific new law brought in during the summer. 

Oxford's trial results this week suggested the vaccine is somewhere between 62 and 90 per cent effective, depending on the dosage people are given.

The jab turned out to be most effective among 2,741 volunteers accidentally only given a half-dose the first time they had the injection, followed by a full dose. But none of those were over 55, according to reports, meaning they didn't represent the vulnerable group who will rely on the vaccine in the real world.

Scientists said claiming the vaccine could be 90 per cent effective for everyone based on that chance result was 'shaky science' and its manufacturer, AstraZeneca, yesterday announced it would carry out another clinical trial to confirm the results.

The company's share price has dropped by almost eight per cent since it unveiled the results on Monday amid confusion over whether the dosing error will harm the vaccine's chances of approval. There are doubts about how it will go down in the US, which has pre-ordered 500million doses of the jab.