By Ben Kerrigan-
A UK Covid vaccine third jab booster scheme will take place and is likely to start next month, the health secretary has said.
Sajid Javid said he was uncertain confirm the exact start date as the government was waiting for the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation’s “final advice” before proceeding.
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Mr Javid added the “most vulnerable” would be offered the third jab first.
Immunologist Prof Peter Openshaw, a member of the New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group (Nervtag), which advises the government, said the “question about boosters is a contentious one”.
He said studies into the effectiveness of booster schemes were still ongoing and “everyone is very keen that if we do have surplus vaccines, that they’re not necessarily used in this country, but might be sent overseas”.
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Prof Sir Andrew Pollard, who led the team that created the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, said decisions on whether to give boosters “should be scientifically driven”
Interim advice from the JCVI, released last month, suggested more than 30 million of the most vulnerable people – including all over-50s – should receive a third dose.
Asked about the scheme on Thursday, Mr Javid said: “We are going to have a booster scheme. It will start some time in September.
“I couldn’t tell you exactly when because before we start it… we need to get the final advice from our group of experts, our independent scientific and medical advisers, the JCVI, and so we’re waiting for their final opinion.”
The issue of vaccines has been very divisive in the Uk, where many citizens are feeling bullied into taking a vaccine developed in a short time, which many sections of the public are against.
However, many members of the British public equally feel the importance of being vaccinated is being underplayed by those they feel pose a risk to the rest of the public.
Earlier on Thursday, Prof Adam Finn told the BBC that the JCVI, of which he is a member, would be “imminently deciding” that some people “will need a third dose, particularly people who we know are very unlikely to be well protected by those first two doses”.
“But I think we do need more evidence before we can make a firm decision on a much broader booster programme,” he added.
The health secretary says “a” booster campaign will take place, but the more important question is “who” will be boosted. We still don’t know”.
Strong advocates of the vaccine say it would take three boosts of the vaccine to counteract the breakthrough of the virus for those with weak immune systems.
According to available statistics, around 70% of the entire UK population has had at least one jab. In total, 47,460,526 first doses have now been given across the UK, while 41,157,069 people have had two doses.
Over 125,000 16 and 17-year-olds in England have had the vaccine in the two weeks since the NHS was given approval to offer that age group a jab.
In total, 47,460,526 first doses have now been given across the UK, while 41,157,069 people have had two doses.
The idea of a third booster for vulnerable people is considered reasonable by many experts, but once extended to the wider population, it could become more contentious. An extension of a third vaccine to the wide population would require evidence that a double jab is generally ineffective even to non vulnerable individuals, which would require an explanation as to why.
The spread of the delta variant has been said to evade the strength of some of the vaccines, with ongoing research still taking place.
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