Over-75s, care home residents and the immunocompromised will be offered Covid vaccine this spring

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Around 8million people most at risk from Covid will be offered another Covid jab this spring, ahead of an autumn booster programme, the Government’s vaccine advisers revealed today.

The over-75s, older care home residents and immunocompromised people aged 12 and over will be eligible for the top-up dose in the coming months to maintain their protection against becoming severely unwell with the virus.

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), which signed off on the plans, said the spring dose will protect the group against severe Covid.

The move adds the UK to the short list of countries that are dishing out fourth doses, which includes Israel, Denmark and Germany. 

Eligible over-18s will receive a Pfizer or Moderna vaccine, while immunocompromised people aged 12 to 18 will receive a Pfizer jab. They can come forward for the additional jab, provided it has been six months since their last coronavirus vaccine.

The precautionary vaccination approach comes when just a small amount of waning has been recorded among the vulnerable groups, cases are falling and no new concerning variant has been identified.

And it will be followed by a wider autumn booster campaign, which will include the spring dose cohort, alongside other groups which have not yet been decided. 

Scientists hope the autumn rollout will boost among the vulnerable and the NHS over the winter, when cases are expected to rise.

It comes as Oxford University’s Sir Andrew Pollard — who advises No10 on the jab roll out — today said not every Briton will need a Covid booster every winter.  

Professor Wei Shen Lim, chair of Covid vaccination at the JCVI, said: ‘Last year’s booster vaccination programme has so far provided excellent protection against severe Covid.

‘To maintain high levels of protection for the most vulnerable individuals in the population, an extra spring dose of vaccine is advised ahead of an expected autumn booster programme later this year.

‘The JCVI will continue its rolling review of the vaccination programme and the epidemiological situation, particularly in relation to the timing and value of doses for less vulnerable older adults and those in clinical risk groups ahead of autumn 2022.’

Around nine in 10 over-12s in the UK have received at least one Covid jab, while 85 per cent are double-jabbed and two-thirds are boosted. 

Nearly 38million booster doses have been dished out across the UK. 

The extra dose in the spring vaccination campaign triggers the same mild and short-lasting side effects reported after the first booster jab.

Health Secretary Sajid Javid said the vaccine rollout has saved countless lives and reduced pressures on the health service and means the UK is the ‘freest country in Europe’. 

He confirmed he accepted the latest JCVI recommendation, which will apply across the UK.

Mr Javid said: ‘Following the JCVI’s advice, I have asked the NHS to prepare to offer those eligible a vaccine from around six months after their last dose and they will set out further details in due course.

‘We know immunity to COVID-19 begins to wane over time. That’s why we’re offering a spring booster to those people at higher risk of serious COVID-19 to make sure they maintain a high level of protection. It’s important that everyone gets their top-up jabs as soon as they’re eligible.

‘The JCVI will keep under review whether the booster programme should be extended to further at-risk groups.

‘This is a national mission – the vaccines are the best way to protect yourself and your loved ones and I urge everybody to get your jabs as soon as you can. For anyone who is yet to get a booster, come forward to Get Boosted Now.’

Not every Briton will need to get a Covid booster vaccine every winter, one of the country’s top experts claimed today.

Sir Andrew, who is part of the team behind the AstraZeneca jab, said every Briton would not be given a Covid jab every year, but noted it was ‘reasonable to think’ the most vulnerable would likely be offered top-up doses in the future.

His comments echo other scientists, who say annual Covid jabs will likely be offered to all those that get a flu shot every year. This includes the over-50s, care home residents, health workers, pregnant women, and the immunocompromised.

Sir Andrew also gave a luke-warm reception to plans to dump the last Covid measures, saying there was no ‘right or wrong’ time to relax the final rules.  

Scientists say the top-up doses may be needed because of concerns over how long immunity from the jabs lasts.    

Israel has offered fourth jabs to its over-60s and health workers since early January, and expanded the roll out to all adults later that month.

But some academics say the US, the UK and other major economies could be on the brink of over-vaccinating people in the fight against Covid. 

Moves to offer a fourth Covid vaccine were revealed on Sunday, as Boris Johnson made the final tweaks to his ‘living with Covid’ strategy.

The plan envisages Britain shifting to relying on vaccines and other drugs to keep the virus at bay, rather than restrictions.

Sources told the Sunday Times that this means the country may need to offer an annual Covid jab, similar to the flu vaccine which is given every year to older age groups.

They said the vaccination programme would only be scaled up if a more dangerous variant emerged sparking concern in official circles.

Decisions on whether to expand the Covid vaccination programme will be made by Britain’s vaccine watchdog, the Joint Committee for Vaccination and Immunisation, which is chaired by Sir Andrew.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, he said: ‘As far as whether we need them for the whole population, I don’t think that’s likely to be the future – for whole populations to get regular doses.

‘But… it’s certainly reasonable to think that further doses may be needed to maintain immunity in those who are at greatest risk of ending up in hospital.’

Sir Andrew, who previously insisted boosters might not be needed, also did not slam moves to dump the last Covid restrictions from Thursday. 

He said it was ‘enormously difficult’ to decide when to end the final measures.

‘There isn’t a right or wrong answer to this because we don’t have a measure that helps us get there,’ he said.

Sir Andrew noted that although the measures had benefits, including breaking chains of transmission and limiting hospital admissions, there were also hidden harms. 

‘(The harms) include things, just from a health perspective, like the the impact on hospitals of having staff self-isolating, the inability to perform operations, there will be surgery cancelled today that may be critical for people because of staff who are off work during that period; the impact on education, on the workplace and the economy,’ he said.

‘The impacts on the economy and mental health will have longer-term consequences. 

‘So if we could find a measure that brings all of that together, we could work out the exact right moment (for lifting restrictions).’

He called for Covid surveillance systems for variants to remain in place, and for monitoring for outbreaks using national programmes to continue. 

Britain started offering third jabs to older age groups to shore-up immunity levels from September, before the drive was opened to all adults amid the spread of the Omicron variant.

More than 66 per cent of Britons now have their third dose, but uptake has been patchy with more than 90 per cent of over-70s getting the shot compared to less than 40 per cent of younger adults. 

SAGE adviser Dr Mike Tildesley has previously suggested annual Covid jabs could be needed for the most vulnerable.

Education Secretary and former vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi also made it clear that the Government intends to roll out booster doses annually. 

A virologist at Cambridge University today said extra doses would likely be needed because of uncertainty over how long immunity from three jabs lasts. 

Dr Chris Smith told BBC Breakfast: ‘We’re very well protected as a community, having been vaccinated and boosted now.

‘Now, it’s a question of seeing what the booster does in the longer term to our immune system and also, critically, what the virus is going to do, because the virus is probably not done with us yet. 

‘There may be other variants that come along. They may require an update to the vaccines anyway.

‘So I think we’ll see what happens over this winter; then we’ve got the summer to think about how to plan for next winter and, by then, things will have moved on a bit more, we’ll have more information.’

Some scientists have previously argued that rolling out vaccines every three-to-four months simply isn’t ‘doable’.

And they have said it may not even be necessary because of Omicron, which some believe has speed up the process of endemicity.

Some claim the benefits of extra jabs are minimal because their primary purpose — preventing deaths and hospitalizations — has barely waned after a year and several Covid variants, effectively meaning boosters are adding to an already high base level immunity.

Others have called for more data on dosing gaps between boosters before pressing ahead with plans to administer fourth jabs.  

The WHO’s director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has previously slammed moves to roll out fourth jabs, saying: ‘Indiscriminate booster programs have every chance of prolonging the pandemic, rather than ending it, by diverting available doses to countries that already have high vaccination rates, thereby giving the virus more opportunities to spread. spread and mutate.’