CORONAVIRUS booster vaccines are set to be rolled out to Brits over 40 in order to beat a winter wave of the bug, it has been reported.
At present anyone over the age of 50 is able to have their booster, as long as it’s been six months after their second dose of the jab.
The government is today expected to announce that people under-50 will be able to come forward for their booster, The Times reported.
Experts have hailed booster jabs for keeping Brits safe and have said they will also help keep infections down this winter.
Professor Neil Ferguson, scientific adviser to the government said the most vulnerable in society need to have their boosters to keep transmission rates low.
Trending In The News’s Give Britain A Booster campaign is also urging people to get a third jab.
Around 12.6 million Brits have now had their booster vaccines, with the programme rumoured to end in January.
Over the weekend Prof Ferguson told BBC 4’s Today Programme: “I see no reason why we shouldn’t be rolling them out to younger age groups once we’ve got through the priority groups: over-fifties and the clinically vulnerable.
“Our modelling suggests that, yes, it could make quite a big difference to driving transmission down to low levels.”
The booster campaign was rolled out earlier this year after studies showed that those jabbed at the start of the pandemic would start to witness waning immunity.
Around 80 per cent of Brits now have two coronavirus vaccines under their belts and the government has been urging those eligible to come forward for their booster doses.
Those currently eligible include the over 50s, care home workers, front line health workers and anyone over the age of 16 with certain health conditions.
It was yesterday reported that Covid cases climbed by a fifth in just a week with 36,517 new positive infections having been recorded.
The death rate has dropped in the last day, from 157 to 63 fatalities being reported.
This time last week, there were 30,305 cases reported in the UK – marking a 20.5 per cent increase in yesterday’s numbers.
However the number of fatalities has only increased slightly from last Sunday, from 62 to 63 fatalities – bringing the grim total to 142,898.
