Around 5 million people are to become eligible for an additional COVID jab in England, with fifth jabs hinted at as Britain rolls out its ‘Spring Booster’ campaign.
A large number of people in England are to now receive a fourth COVID shot as the United Kingdom begins its ‘Spring Booster’ vaccination campaign.
Britain will join the likes of Israel in making a fourth jab widely available, with around 600,000 expected to be offered an additional shot this week, with around five million in total ultimately expected to be invited to partake in an additional booster by the end of the campaign.
According to a report by Britain’s state-owned broadcaster the BBC, those over the age of 75 will be eligible for the initial jab drive, along with care home residents and immunocompromised people over the age of 12.
Individuals fitting into these categories in England, as Wales and Scotland, will either be offered a Moderna or Pfizer/BioNTech jab in the hopes of boosting their resistance to the virus.
“Our phenomenal vaccination programme has saved countless lives and built a wall of defence which has allowed us to learn to live with COVID,” said Boris Johnson’s Health Secretary, Sajid Javid.
“Following the massive success of the rollout so far, we are now offering over-75s and the most vulnerable a spring booster dose to top up their protection against this virus,” he continued.
While this is not the first time fourth doses have been administered in the United Kingdom — with some severely immunocompromised people having already received extra jabs — it does represent a significant expansion of the number of British citizens receiving an additional booster.
However, the mass administration of even more shots may yet be on the table, with Javid hinting at the possibility of pushing some people to receive their fifth COVID jab this Autumn.
“The [Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation] have said that it’s li– it’s possible there will be an autumn booster campaign, probably for those who are 50 and over,” Javid said, stuttering slightly when asked about whether additional boosters will be offered. “But they haven’t yet made a final recommendation on that.”
Javid is not the first government official to hint at the possibility of a fifth vaccination, however.
During an interview with American broadcaster NBC, the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director, Dr Anthony Fauci, noted that it was “entirely conceivable” that additional boosters will be needed to fight off COVID.
“We may need to boost again. That’s entirely conceivable,” Dr Fauci told the interviewer. “But before we make that decision about yet again another boost, we want to determine clearly what the durability of protection is of that regular boost, that third shot that we’re talking about.”
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