Islanders Set To Get Third COVID Jabs From September

People in England who are most vulnerable to COVID-19 could be in line for a third vaccine from September, the Department of Health has said.

The news comes less than a week after Isle of Wight Radio reported how Islanders could receive a booster jab in the Autumn.

The committee which decides how jabs are delivered is recommending a two-staged booster programme to protect against the virus in winter.  

Cases are still climbing among younger groups across the UK as the initial rollout continues.

On the Isle of Wight, 13 cases were recorded on today's (Wednesday's) daily figures.

New Health Secretary, Sajid Javid, said:

“The phenomenal vaccine rollout has already saved tens of thousands of lives and prevented millions of infections, helping to wrestle back control of the pandemic and ease lockdown restrictions so we can return to normal as soon as possible. 

“We welcome this interim advice, which will help us ensure we are ready in our preparations for Autumn. We look forward to receiving the Committee’s final advice in due course.

“We need to learn to live with this virus. Our first COVID-19 vaccination programme is restoring freedom in this country, and our booster programme will protect this freedom. We are working with the NHS to make sure we can rapidly deliver this programme to maintain protection for people in the winter months.”

Dependent on final advice, the booster programme will be designed to protect as many vulnerable people as possible from becoming seriously ill due to COVID-19 over the winter period.  

Deputy Chief Medical Officer for England, Professor Jonathan Van-Tam said:

“Where the UK has reached so far on vaccination is truly fantastic. But we need to keep going and finish giving second doses to those remaining adults who have not had them; this is the best thing we can do prevent the disease from making a comeback which disrupts society later in the year. 

“Being able to manage COVID-19 with fewer or no restrictions is now heavily dependent on the continued success of the vaccination programme. We want to be on the front foot for COVID-19 booster vaccination to keep the probability of loss of vaccine protection due to waning immunity or variants as low as possible. Especially over the coming autumn and winter. 

“Fewer or no restrictions will mean that other respiratory viruses, particularly flu, will make a comeback and quite possibly be an additional problem this winter, so we will need to ensure protection against flu as well as maintaining protection against COVID-19. 

“The announcement of interim advice from JCVI is good news. It shows that the vaccine experts are thinking carefully about how best to use vaccination to protect the most vulnerable and ensure everyone’s lives can remain as normal as possible for the autumn and winter.

“Of course, we have to be driven by data, and there will be more data from vaccine booster studies for JCVI to look at over summer, so we should all remember that this advice is interim and might change between now and September; however JCVI has clearly set out the broad direction of travel which I agree with, and which Ministers have accepted.”