People living in residential care homes for older adults and front-line social care workers are to be offered Covid booster vaccines from September.
Interim advice issued by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) states these people will also be eligible for the annual flu vaccine and are strongly advised to have it.
The final JCVI advice will be published before September and 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 and emerging variants.
The final advice could change from the interim advice as further data is analysed.
“The JCVI’s interim advice is that, should a booster programme be required, a third COVID-19 vaccine dose should be offered to the most vulnerable first, starting from September 2021 to maximise individual protection and safeguard the NHS ahead of winter,” said Covid-19 chair for JCVI Professor Wei Shen Lim.
In Stage 2, 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 should be offered a booster dose as soon as practicable after Stage 1, with equal emphasis on the flu vaccine where eligible.
Health Secretary Sajid Javid added: “We need to learn to live with this virus. Our first COVID-19 vaccination programme is restoring freedom in this country, and our booster programme will protect this freedom.”
