Millions of Brits can expect a fourth vaccine dose this year, according to Health Secretary Sajid Javid.
It's already the case that all 7.2million over-75s, care home residents, and 500,000 immunosuppressed adults or teenagers can get a fresh dose this spring. For most of them it will be the fourth dose, though for some vulnerable people it might be the fifth.
But while these fourth doses, due around six months after a third dose, are being rolled out in Scotland, this is yet to happen in England. The Mirror 's Health Editor Martin Bagot reports that these fourth doses to over-75s, vulnerable people and care residents could start next week.
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An NHS England spokesman said: “The NHS will be vaccinating eligible people with a spring dose six months after their first booster, starting later this month for the small number of people eligible before April.” Meanwhile, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) is still debating whether to extend fourth doses more widely.
Last week Sajid Javid said the idea of a wider roll-out of fourth doses was being "kept under review" amid rising cases in the UK. And on Wednesday the Health Secretary gave the strongest hint yet that there will definitely be a wider roll out.
But is understood no decisions have been made about whether to offer a fourth jab to all adults - or, instead, widen access but still keep it to certain groups such as the over-50s. Asked if the JCVI would say we needed more people jabbed, Mr Javid told ITV's Peston: "I think at some point they will.
"And they've actually been clear and their most recent advice is that they think that towards the end of this year, maybe in the autumn, there will be a need to give a lot more people a boost, an offer of a boost. "But I'll wait for that advice."
The JCVI has explicitly said that even if there is a widespread fourth dose roll-out, it could be limited to some groups. In February, the experts said: "A further booster in the autumn of 2022 is likely to be advised for people who are at higher risk of severe Covid-19. "It remains too early to set out precise details of what that programme may look like, but the committee will provide more definitive advice in due course."
Mr Javid has said the government will "listen very carefully" to what the JCVI has to say. He said: "Their latest advice is that there should be a second boost - or let's call it a fourth dose, but to focus on those over 75, those in care homes, those who are immunosuppressed. We will start that by the end of this month."
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