Get ready for another batch of Covid vaccines this spring: All over-75s, care home residents and vulnerable people to get top-up jab offer from mid-April
- The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation confirmed plan
- People will be offered the vaccine around six months after previous dose
Another round of Covid booster vaccines will be dished out this spring, officials confirmed today.
The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) recommended the most vulnerable Brits get a top-up to their immunity.
This will include anyone over 75, along with care home residents and anyone aged five and over who is immunosuppressed.
People will be offered the vaccine around six months after their previous dose, with the roll-out expected to begin in mid-April.
People aged 75 and over, those in care homes and vulnerable people are to be offered a spring Covid-19 booster jab
Professor Wei Shen Lim, chairman of the JCVI’s Covid committee, said: ‘Vaccination remains the best way to protect yourself against Covid.
‘The spring booster programme provides an opportunity for those who are at highest risk of severe illness to keep their immunity topped up.
‘This year’s spring programme will bridge the gap to the planned booster programme in the autumn, enabling those who are most vulnerable to be well protected throughout the summer.’
Dr Mary Ramsay, head of immunisation at the UK Health Security Agency, said: ‘Covid is still circulating widely, and we have recently seen increases in older people being hospitalised.
‘It is important those at highest risk of severe illness do not become complacent and I would encourage everyone who is eligible to come forward once the booster programme starts.’
Jabs that will be rolled out include ones made by Pfizer, Moderna and Sanofi/GSK.
Data on hospital admission rates in the UK is consistent with the clinical risk being highest in those aged 75 years and older. Graph shows admission rate for every age group
Novavax’s jab will also be available for use only when alternatives are not considered clinically suitable.
Children under 12 will be offered a children’s formulation of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine.
Which vaccine people get will depend on local supply.
Another programme is being planned for the autumn.
It will mean that tens of thousands of the country’s most vulnerable will have been offered eight coronavirus vaccines by the end of 2023.
Britain’s historic inoculation campaign began in December 2020 — less than a year after Covid emerged.
Health advisers credited it for drastically blunting the threat of the virus that saved tens of thousands of lives.
It has allowed the country to press ahead with a post-pandemic life, leaving draconian restrictions in its wake.
Q&A: Everything you need to know about the 2023 Covid booster vaccines
WHEN WILL JABS BE ROLLED OUT?
The autumn 2023 Covid booster campaign should be offered to those ‘at higher risk of severe Covid’, the JCVI said.
Officials have confirmed another spring booster programme will get underway from mid-April.
Plans are in place for another roll-out this autumn, too.
WHO WILL GET THE JABS THIS SPRING?
The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) recommended the most vulnerable Brits get a top-up to their immunity.
This will include anyone over 75, along with care home residents and anyone aged five and over who is immunosuppressed.
WHAT ABOUT IN THE AUTUMN?
The autumn Covid booster campaign should be offered to those at higher risk of getting severely ill, the JCVI said.
It did not specify the exact groups that should be eligible when it announced plans earlier this year.
But under last year’s campaign — which began in September — over-50s, residents and staff at care homes and frontline health workers were invited.
On top of these groups, five to 49-year-olds who are a clinical risk group, live with an immunosuppressed person or are carers were also offered a booster — in a programme similar to one carried out for the annual flu vaccine.
Source: Read Full Article