Covid vaccine: Booster coronavirus jabs may begin for over-70s in September, minister says

  • Video report by ITV News Reporter Lewis Warner

The over-70s could begin getting booster vaccines to protect them against new coronavirus variants in September under plans for the future of the rollout.

Vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi said the first booster doses would go to the top four priority groups, including care home staff, NHS workers and the clinically extremely vulnerable.

The top four priority groups are:

1 - Residents in a care home for older adults and their carers (800,000 people)

2 - Those aged 80 and over and frontline health and social care workers (a total of 7.1 million people in this group: 3.3m over 80s, 2.4m healthcare workers, 1.4m social care workers)

3 - Those aged 75 and over (2.3 million)

4 - Those aged 70 and over and clinically extremely vulnerable individuals (4.4 million)

He told the Telegraph that this would likely begin in September and was said to have added that the government is expecting up to eight different jabs to be available by the autumn, including one protecting against three different variants in a single dose.

A number will reportedly be manufactured in the UK, which could ease the pressure on supplies amid tensions with the European Union as it faces shortages from AstraZeneca.

Asked when the booster programme would begin, Mr Zahawi told the newspaper: “The most likely date will be September.

“Jonathan Van-Tam (the deputy chief medical officer) thinks that if we are going to see a requirement for a booster jab to protect the most vulnerable, (it) would be around September.”

The government has said it will have offered all UK adults at least one dose of the Covid vaccine by the end of July.

(PA Graphics) Credit: PA Graphics

European Union leaders gave their backing to more stringent vaccine shipment controls as the bloc struggles with its rollout, but stopped short of imposing an export ban.

European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said AstraZeneca must “catch up” on deliveries to the EU before exporting doses elsewhere.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson and US president Joe Biden discussed their vaccination programmes in a call on Friday afternoon.

“The prime minister stressed that global access to vaccines will be key to defeating the pandemic,” a Downing Street spokesperson said.

(PA Graphics) Credit: PA Graphics

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) signed off moves that will increase manufacturing capacity and supply of Covid-19 vaccines.

The EU agency approved the Halix site in Leiden in the Netherlands for the production of AstraZeneca’s active vaccine substance, boosting the licensed sites to four.

And it backed a new manufacturing site in the German city of Marburg, as well as more flexible storage conditions for the Pfizer jab.

However, tensions remained high, with French foreign minister Jean-Yves Le Drian accusing the UK of “blackmail” over its handling of exports.

“The United Kingdom has taken great pride in vaccinating well with the first dose except they have a problem with the second dose,” he told France Info radio.

But his assertion was denied by the UK Government, with a spokesperson saying: “We’re on track to meet our vaccination targets and everyone will get their second dose within 12 weeks of their first.”

Meanwhile, new figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) suggested there was a levelling off in the decline of coronavirus infections in England.

Oxford University’s Professor James Naismith said: “Today’s ONS data are less reassuring than last week; they serve as a caution but not yet evidence we need to change course.”