The Joint Committee on Vaccine and Immunisation (JVCI) has recommended that the government provides an autumn Covid-19 booster programme in preparation for winter.
Despite the known uncertainties of Covid trends in the year ahead, 'winter will remain the season when the threat from COVID-19 is greatest for individuals and for health communities,' it said. The purpose of the roll-out is to protect against severe Covid, 'specifically hospitalisation and death', the JVCI's interim report stated.
Professor Wei Shen Lim, chair of Covid-19 vaccination on the JCVI, said that last year’s autumn booster programme provided 'excellent protection' against Covid-19.
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He said that as data is reviewed, further updates to the advice given so far will follow. He added : “We have provided interim advice on an autumn booster programme for 2022 so that the NHS and care homes are able to start the necessary operational planning, to enable high levels of protection for more vulnerable individuals and frontline healthcare staff over next winter."
The Department of Health welcomed the recommendations, adding that they have asked NHS England to begin preparations for next winter. A spokesperson said: “We have asked the NHS in England to begin preparations to ensure they are ready to deploy Covid vaccines to those eligible.”
Who will be eligible for the autumn booster?
The JVCI announced that four main groups of people would be able to get the booster vaccine in the autumn. These include:
- residents in a care home for older adults and staff working in care homes for older adults
- frontline health and social care workers
- all those 65 years of age and over
- adults aged 16 to 64 years in a clinical risk group
Vaccination of other groups of people remains under consideration within JCVI’s ongoing review. The recommendations come amid the rollout of the spring booster programme, with the JCVI calling on those who are eligible to continue coming forward.
They include adults aged 75 years and over, residents in a care home for older adults, and individuals aged 12 years and over who are immunosuppressed. Meanwhile the latest government figures show the number of people with Covid-19 in UK hospitals has fallen to its lowest level since autumn.
A total of 6,879 patients were in hospital as of May 18, down 23% week-on-week, government figures show. It is the first time the number has dropped below the levels recorded throughout the winter, when the original Omicron variant drove a surge of infections across the country.
Boosters are estimated to have prevented around 186,600 hospital admissions among people aged 25 and over in England between December 13 2021 and April 17 2022, according to the UK Health Security Agency. This includes approximately 162,300 people aged 65 and over.
