Vaccines could be targeted on areas showing spikes in Covid rates, Downing Street has said.

Asked if ‘surge’ jabs could accompany ‘surge’ testing in towns which have worrying increases in new variants, the prime minister’s official spokesperson said ‘all options’ were being considered.

Scientific advisers on the Sage committee met on Thursday to reassess the sharp rise in cases of the so-called Indian variant of the virus.

The PM’s spokesman said: ‘Should they come out with any further updates on this variant originating in India and its epidemiology in the UK, then we will consider [surge vaccinations].’

The Joint Committee on Vaccinations and Immunisation (JCVI) is the independent body that advises policy on vaccine roll-out.

But a growing number of scientists have urged a new approach to stamp out the rise in cases of the Indian variant, which experts fear could be more infectious than the Kent strain that sent England into lockdown in January.

Ministers have faced calls to use stockpiles of Pfizer and other vaccines to target areas of concern.

‘It’s the JCVI that set the terms with regards how vaccination rollout is done currently that’s by age. And that has been very successful, but clearly it’s kept under review by the JCVI and others and we will take heed of any advice given to us,’ the PM’s spokesman said.

Bolton and Blackburn are two towns that have seen sharp increases in the India variant in the past week.

Vaccination of the older population has meant there has been no accompanying rise in hospitalisations or deaths, but there are fears it could be spreading among younger people.

Both Boris Johnson and Health secretary Matt Hancock said on Thursday they could not rule out a return to a tiered system after data showed 28 areas of England have an infection rate more than twice the national average.

But the official spokesman told reporters there are no plans in the pipeline to impose restrictions on these places.

‘We have set out what we want to do on the road map, moving together as a nation on this, and that has been very successful so far,’ he said.

‘There are no plans to reintroduce tiering measures, like I say we have got a raft of measures available to us which are already in place, with regards local testing, surge testing and tracing.’

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