Time is fast running out if you're under 50 and want a Covid booster.
Chief medical officer for England Professor Chris Whitty is encouraging people to take up the vaccine before the plug is pulled this Sunday, February 12.
After then, the booster will only be offered to those considered to be at risk of serious illness.
Sir Whitty says: "We know that having the third vaccination, the booster, is a very important part of immunity to Covid and it provides additional protection."
The NHS is using Moderna's bivalent vaccine, which covers both the original Covid virus and the Omicron variant.
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What are the side effects?
"Like all medicines, this vaccine can cause side effects, although not everybody gets them, " says the UK's Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).
Perhaps the most common is people might experience swelling and tenderness of the underarm glands on the same side the injection took place.
Common side effects, cropping up in more than one in ten people, include:
- Headache
Vomiting
- Nausea
- Pain or swelling at the injection site
Muscle ache, joint aches, and stiffness
- Feeling extremely tired
- Chills
- Fever
Other things to watch for include redness where the needle went in, but this may not appear until nine to 11 days later.
Further well-documented adverse reactions could include a rash or hives at the point of injection, as well as diarrhoea.
Less common - affecting up to one in 100 people - are itchiness at the injection site, dizziness, or stomach pain.
Rarely, a condition called Bell's palsy may occur, which is when one side of the face droops temporarily.
There are have been very rare cases - around one in 10,000 - where the heart may become inflamed.
Inflammation of the heart muscle is known as myocarditis, while inflammation of the outside of the heart is called pericarditis.
Heart inflammation can lead to breathlessness, palpitations, or chest pain, which requires medical attention.
"If you get any side effects, talk to your doctor, pharmacist or nurse," the MHRA advised.
Most side effects go away within a few days.
Seek urgent medical attention if you experience any of the following:
- Feeling faint or light-headed
- Shortness of breath
Changes in your heartbeat
- Wheezing
- Hives or rash
Swelling of your lips, face, tongue or throat
- Nausea or vomiting
- Stomach pain.
Who is eligible for the Covid jab?
People are able to get the booster because they are considered at risk by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI).
This includes pregnant women, people who have a learning disability or severe mental illness, or another condition that makes them eligible, such as diabetes, epilepsy, blood cancer and asthma. Other chronic conditions outlined in the government's Green Book (which has the latest information on vaccines and vaccination procedures).
Around 6.4 million people are eligible for the jab due to a medical condition, and while the NHS has now invited everyone, people are also able to self-declare if they think they should have been invited or, for example, because they have only recently become eligible.
So far, around 350,000 people have self-declared as being at risk in order to get their jab.
Who is eligible for the flu vaccine?
The flu vaccine is given free on the NHS to adults who:
- Are 50 and over (including those who will be 50 by 31 March 2023)
- Have certain health conditions
- Are pregnant
- Are in long-stay residential care
- Receive a carer's allowance, or are the main carer for an older or disabled person who may be at risk if you get sick
- Live with someone who is more likely to get a severe infection due to a weakened immune system, such as someone living with HIV, someone who has had a transplant, or is having certain treatments for cancer, lupus or rheumatoid arthritis
Who is at increased risk from Covid-19 - what the NHS says
People aged 16 years and over:
- A long-term lung condition, such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), asthma (if you need steroid tablets) or cystic fibrosis
- A long-term heart condition, such as congenital heart disease, chronic heart failure or atrial fibrillation
- Long term kidney disease (CKD) stage 3, 4 or 5
- A severe liver disease, such as cirrhosis
- A long-term problem with the brain or nerves, such as epilepsy, cerebral palsy, multiple sclerosis, motor neurone disease, Huntington’s disease, myasthenia gravis, or a stroke or transient ischaemic attack
- Severe or multiple learning disabilities (or being on the learning disability register), such as Down’s syndrome
- Diabetes or another hormone disorder, such as Addison’s disease
A severe mental illness, such as schizophrenia or bipolar disorder
- A weakened immune system, due to a medical treatment (such as steroid medicine, biological therapy, chemotherapy or radiotherapy), a condition (such as leukaemia), or from having an organ or bone marrow transplant
- Problems with the spleen, having no spleen or having a condition that can affect the spleen (such as sickle cell disease)
- Being severely obese (having a body mass index (BMI) over 40 or above.
- Being pregnant (all stages)
- Living in a long-stay nursing and residential care home as a younger adult.
Children aged 5 to 15 years:
- A long-term lung condition, such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), asthma (if you need steroid tablets) or cystic fibrosis
- A long-term heart condition, such as congenital heart disease or chronic heart failure
- A long-term condition of the kidney, liver or digestive system
- A long-term problem with the brain or nerves, such as epilepsy, cerebral palsy, multiple sclerosis, an inherited condition or autism
- Severe or multiple learning disabilities (or being on the learning disability register), such as Down’s syndrome
- Diabetes or another hormone disorder, such as Addison’s disease
- A weakened immune system, due to a medical treatment (such as steroid medicine, biological therapy, chemotherapy or radiotherapy), a condition (such as leukaemia), a genetic condition or from having an organ or bone marrow transplant
- Problems with the spleen, having no spleen or having a condition that can affect the spleen (such as sickle cell disease)
- A serious genetic condition that affects multiple systems in the body, such as mitochondrial disease
- Being pregnant (all stages)
- Living in a long-stay nursing and residential care home as a younger adult.
