People over the age of 40 will soon be able to get a third dose of the COVID-19 vaccine in the UK in an effort to strengthen public safety and avoid the reintroduction of restrictions this winter.
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To date, approximately 12.6 million people in the UK have received a third injection of COVID-19, including those over 50 years of age, leading caregivers and those with health conditions who are at risk of contracting the disease.
JCVI’s experts, a panel advising the government on its vaccination campaign, on Monday recommended extending the recall campaign to over 40s and making the Pfizer / BioNtech vaccine a priority for injections or the use of a half-dose of Moderna.
The injection should be given at least six months after the administration of the second dose, and an interval is considered the most appropriate depending on the effectiveness of the vaccine.
The JCVI also recommended that adolescents between the ages of 16 and 17, who were initially given an injection of the Covit-19 vaccine, receive the second dose of the Pfizer / Bioentech vaccine 12 weeks after the first dose.
As soon as these recommendations were made public, Health Minister Sajid Javed announced that he would extend the withdrawal campaign, emphasizing that the four countries of the United Kingdom (England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland) intended to “follow.”
Mr Javed told the NHS, a public health service, that “qualified individuals should be prepared to be vaccinated as soon as possible.”
The announcements come as the government renews calls from the population to get booster shots to avoid a chaotic winter with hospitals full of COVID-19 patients and other seasonal viruses such as the flu.
“At Christmas and winter, we can expect respiratory viruses, and we’re worried that the flu would come back and make our problems worse,” said Jonathan Van-Tom, the UK’s deputy chief medical officer. A press conference on Monday.
“It will be very exciting in the coming months,” he warned.
“We know that immunity to COVID-19 begins to decline after six months, and new data released today shows that the third dose increases protection against more than 90% of symptomatic infections. It underscores how important it is for all eligible people to receive their booster injections as soon as possible.” The Health Minister underlined that.
JCVI said it will continue to study whether the third dose of the COVID-19 vaccine should be extended to those under 40 years of age.
The United Kingdom is one of the countries most affected by the corona virus infection with nearly 143,000 deaths.
