Covid-19: Autumn booster rollout to begin this month
The Covid-19 vaccine will be given to care-workers and patients before being offered to people over the age of 75 and those with underlying health conditions on 12th September.
From 5th September all care home residents and care home workers will be offered their booster vaccine.
Seven million adults will then be invited to book their vaccine from 12th September, including all over-75s, patients with suppressed immune systems and healthcare staff.
In the first phase, 1.6 million residents of care homes will be vaccinated – teams of NHS nurses are set to visit 700 care homes this week.
From Monday next week, all over-75s are eligible to get the jab at their local pharmacy, GP surgery and in some local hospitals.
However, there are concerns that GPs and pharmacies could struggle to cope with the workload. The Association of Independent Multiple Pharmacies warned that chemists had not been given a sufficient stock of the jab, whilst GPs have complained they were not being paid enough to deliver extra doses.
The new bivalent jab targets both the original strain of the virus and the Omicron variant. Both Pfizer and Moderna have had vaccines approved by the medicines regulator and the NHS will use both.
Over 20 million people, including all over-50s, will be offered the vaccine by the end of November and 3,100 sites have been set up for the process.
Those eligible for the flu vaccine are likely to be offered it whilst receiving their booster.
Steve Russell, NHS director for vaccinations and screening has said: ‘This winter will be the first time we see the real effects of both Covid and flu in full circulation as we go about life as normal – and so it is vital that those most susceptible to serious illness from these viruses come forward for the latest jab in order to protect themselves.’
Photo by Ed Us