The booster jab could be associated to a “higher risk of adverse reactions”, said Jay Butler, the deputy director of the CDC, who is concerned that “more severe – although very rare – side effects” may occur. While America has not made a decision on whether to go ahead with booster jabs or not, the UK is taking on the advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI). The JCVI advise booster jabs will “prolong the protection that vaccines provide” – especially in the most vulnerable ahead of the winter months.
It’s planned to coincide with the annual flu vaccination programme, with further details to be “set out in due course”.
The final JCVI advice will take into account:
- The latest epidemiological situation
- Additional scientific data from trials such as Cov-Boost
- Real-time surveillance of the effectiveness of the vaccines over time
- Emerging variants.
Depending on the data, the plans for a booster jab could change in the UK.
Health and Social Care Secretary, Sajid Javid said: “We look forward to receiving the committee’s final advice in due course.”
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Overall, there has 236,076 infected people who’ve confirmed their Covid status in the past week.
While the link between the number of Covid cases, hospitalisation and deaths has been severely weakened by the vaccines, a link still exists.
This is why there has been 3,236 people who have been admitted to hospital and 213 people who’ve lost their lives in the past week.
The JCVI’s interim position on booster jabs is to ensure the level of protection built up in the population doesn’t decline throughout winter.
Vaccines minister, Nadhim Zahawi, commented on the “roaring success” of the Covid vaccination programme.
Almost 85 percent of adults across the UK have received their first Covid dose, and more than 62 percent of the population are getting both doses.
“We are now planning ahead to future-proof this progress and protect our most vulnerable from variants and flu ahead of the winter,” said Zahawi.
“Vaccines are the best way to stay on top of this virus and I urge everybody to take up the offer as soon as possible.”
Who is in line to get the booster jabs first?
The following people should be offered the Covid booster jab alongside the annual flu jab from September 2021:
- Adults aged 16 years and over who are immunosuppressed
- Those living in residential care homes for older adults
- All adults aged 70 years or over
- Adults aged 16 years and over who are considered clinically extremely vulnerable
- Frontline health and social care workers.
Once the above group of people have been offered the booster jab, the next group of people to be offered a third Covid jab include:
- All adults aged 50 years and over
- All adults aged 16 to 49 years who are in an influenza or COVID-19 at-risk group as outlined in the Green Book
- Adult household contacts of immunosuppressed individuals.
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