UK set for fourth Covid vaccine this year

The UK is set for the fourth Covid vaccine this year.

HEALTH Secretary Sajid Javid has announced that millions more people in the UK will get their fourth Covid vaccine in the autumn of this year. Currently, 7.2million over-75s, care home residents, and 500,000 immunosuppressed adults or teenagers can get their fourth jab as early as the spring.

Speaking on the Thursday, March 17 edition of ITV’s Peston show, Mr Javid said regarding the initial rollout of the second booster/ fourth jab in the spring: “The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) looks at the data very, very carefully and their latest advice as you say 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.”

“Now we will start that by the end of this month, that’s what we’ve said and we’re completely on track for that. But we listen to their advice all the time, should they come forward…” he said.

With regards to the remainder of Brits, the Health Secretary added that “I think at some point [the JCVI] will [come forward] 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.”

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.”

For those receiving their fourth jab in the spring, it means that they could potentially receive another dose of the vaccine before the end of the year.

The experts said in February: “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,” as reported by the Mirror.

In related news, Pfizer boss Albert Bourla recently called a fourth booster dose of its Covid vaccine “necessary”.

Speaking on Sunday, March 13, during an appearance on CBS’s Face the Nation, Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla told the world that a fourth dose of the COVID-19 vaccine would be necessary to continue to help countries deal with the virus.

However, it is not yet known whether any of the vaccines are safe and effective against the new DELTACRON variant of the virus, which the World Health Organisation (WHO) recently alleged was running rampant through Europe.

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