Fewer young people are likely to get a coronavirus vaccine compared to older age groups, an expert advising the Government has said. However, they are “optimistic” the majority will want a jab.

This comes as the NHS have released a video encouraging young people to get their vaccine.

The video features people all under 30 who were perfectly healthy but fell victim to Covid-19. One man featured in the video states he had thought he was going to die.

The video was released ahead of 16 and 17-year-olds in England being invited to book their first doses from Monday, Press Association reports.

The NHS has said that people aged 18-34 now makeup the majority of hospital admissions, and many are reported to be suffering with long Covid months after first being infected.

Sufferers of long Covid include Megan Higgins, 25, and Ella Harwood, 23. Both described themselves as fit and active, but now are left feeling perpetually fatigued and unwell after contracting the virus.

Higgins said: “It’s now been eight months since I tested positive, and I can’t even walk around the shops without getting exhausted.

“Long Covid is debilitating, so please, get vaccinated. I wouldn’t want anyone else to go through what I have.”

Professor Adam Finn, a member of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), told Sky News: “I don’t think we’re going to see as many young people receiving the vaccine as the elderly.

“Old folks like me were living in fear of Covid with very large numbers of serious cases, admissions and deaths, and clearly as you come down through the age groups you see those rates coming down.

“But nevertheless, I think we can be optimistic that the majority of young people will want to receive the vaccine.

“And of course, we don’t have compulsory vaccines in this country, people don’t have to have them if they don’t want them, and we will see some people not coming forward.

“But it will contribute to the effort to bringing this pandemic to an end if a majority of people do receive this vaccine. And I think that’s what we’re going to see.”

Public Health England figures show that those aged between 16 and 29 are most likely to suffer from long Covid, yet it is in this age group that vaccine take-up is below average.

Dr Emeka Okorocha speaks of the lack of vaccinated young people in the NHS video, saying that the majority of young people hospitalised do not have the vaccine.

He said: “As an A&E doctor, I’ve seen a lot during the pandemic. But nothing has shaken me like the sight of young, otherwise healthy adults being rushed into our hospitals with Covid-19.

“As well as their age, many of them have one other thing in common – they are unvaccinated.”

The government continue to urge people to get the vaccine, with studies showing double vaccinated patients are half as likely to experience symptoms that last more than 28 days after infection.

A total of 89,070,370 people have been vaccinated in the UK, including 47,573,794 people with a first dose (87.5%) and 41,496,576 with a second (76.3%).