UK vaccine advisors to approve Covid booster vaccines for under-50s | Corona Virus

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UK vaccine advisers are understood to have agreed to roll out the Covid booster vaccines for people under 50, with one minister saying the announcement was due on Monday.

Conservative co-chair Oliver Dowden told Sky News that the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunization (JCVI) was due to determine the next steps in the booster program “later today”.

“It’s up to them but I hope we see a further expansion of the booster rollout. But we’ll wait for their announcement,” Dowden said.

While Dowden did not specify the expected changes, it is understood that the JCVI has already decided that the booster scheme – a third injection to increase diminished immunity – should be extended to younger age groups.

Those who are currently eligible for a booster dose, which is usually given six months after the second dose, include those 50 years of age or older, or any younger person clinically considered to be at risk of developing COVID-19. Others eligible include frontline health and care workers, or those caring for someone at high risk of Covid.

There is a separate program for third injections for people with weakened immune systems, for whom vaccinations are often less effective.

While the broad decision to extend the booster program is by the JCVI, it is still not known which other groups the booster can be offered. The committee is expected to meet Monday morning to discuss further issues.

Ministers see the extension of the boosters as a key component of efforts to mitigate the impact of Covid during the winter, with the number of booster strikes now increasing after a slow start. So far 12 million boosters have been delivered, Dowden said, including 2 million in the past week.

Among the efforts to speed up the process, some people were called in to get reinforcements five months after the second press, instead of six as before.

While Covid infection rates fell during November, they are now on the rise again, while more than 1,000 virus-related deaths were recorded in the week to Sunday.

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Dowden said the potential for new restrictions on COVID-19 during the winter is “in our hands.”

He told Sky: “If you get the boost when the call comes in, that’s our biggest wall of defense against Covid. I’m sure if we stick to the course, people will take the boosters when they’re asked, that vaccine wall will hold up and we’ll be able to have a decent Christmas.” This year “.

Among other decisions not yet announced, is when the second vaccine will be offered to people aged 16 to 17, who have already received the first Covid vaccine. It is understood that JCVI agreed to this in the scheme last month, but nothing has been officially announced yet.

JCVI decided in favor of age group first punches in early August, saying at the time that second punches would likely begin 12 weeks after the first dose. But there have been no updates since then, with some parents reporting that GPs were telling teens they would need to wait until they were 18 to get their second dose.

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