Covid booster jabs ‘will’ be rolled out next month to priority groups – are you eligible?

COVID booster shots and flu jabs are set to be offered to priority groups from next month, the Health Secretary revealed today.

Sajid Javid confirmed this afternoon he expected the rollout to begin in September – to protect the vulnerable ahead of winter.

Booster shots should be coming this September for the over-50s

He said: “When it comes to booster jabs we are waiting for the final advice from JCVI, that’s our group of independent clinical advisers, and when we get that advice we will be able to start the booster programme, but I anticipate it will begin in early September, so I’m already making plans for that.

“It’s really important that when we start that programme, the sort of first cohorts, the ones that got the jabs early on when we started our programme – the first in the world back in December last year – that those cohorts come first and so we will be prioritising it.

“Also in terms of vaccination, it’s important to say that they’re working.

“This wall of defence that the vaccines have created are working. It’s massively reduced hospitalisations, deaths from Covid are mercifully low and that’s because of our vaccination programme.”

He said the plan is for the flu jab to be offered, especially to over 50s, at the same time as their Covid booster jab.

The JCVI, which advises the government on how to use vaccines in the UK, said in June Brits “should be prepared” for another round of jabs.

The campaign would work in two stages, with over-70s, care home residents, extremely vulnerable people and health and care workers up first.

Then all over-50s and under-50s with long-term health problems would get the offer as soon as possible. 

Sajid Javid visiting Milton Keynes University Hospital today

Each person on the list will get one more jab – it may be of the same type as their first two or a different one.

It will ensure their Covid protection is the strongest possible over the winter, when viruses tend to spread more and pressure on the NHS is already higher.

Officials added it “seems unlikely” that younger adults will need to get another jab because they should get at least six months’ immunity from the second doses, lasting into 2022.

Medics say they still don’t know how badly Covid will hit the UK this winter but fear it will double up with flu to trigger a wave of virus patients.

Professor Wei Shen Lim, Covid-19 Chair for JCVI, said vulnerable people are “strongly advised to have the flu vaccine” this year. 

He added: “We will continue to review emerging scientific data over the next few months, including data relating to the duration of immunity from the current vaccines. 

“Our final advice on booster vaccination may change substantially.”

It comes after it was warned the the UK is facing a harsh winter battling Covid before the pandemic ends next year.

Professor Linda Bauld said she thinks we may need more restrictions at some point, but has hope for 2022.

She said Britain expects to be “emerging from a pandemic which is an immediate risk to health”.

But the public health academic warned winter could be “difficult” and a new variant could curb our freedoms again.

She added: “We are probably going to need vaccines and boosters for the foreseeable future.”

Another expert sparked hope, saying those eligible for a Covid-19 booster shot and a simultaneous flu jab will be “as protected as they can be”.