Covid: Booster vaccine programme likely to start in September

Front-line health workers and the over 70s will be among the first to get a third jab

Wales' coronavirus booster jab programme is likely to begin in September under Welsh government plans.

It comes after UK officials gave the green light to give the most vulnerable a third dose of a Covid vaccine.

Interim advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) says boosters will help maintain protection against Covid and variants.

Wales' health minister said the advice "very much aligns with our thinking and our planning assumptions to date".

• Novavax trial volunteer's holiday in jeopardy

• Under-40s in Wales 'should have second AZ jab'

• 'It took me almost all day to get my coronavirus vaccine'

Eluned Morgan added: "NHS Wales has been planning on the assumption of a September/October booster for cohorts 1-9, with around a six month gap following a second dose and health boards have submitted their initial plans on this basis.

"We will be working with health boards to ensure they are ready to deliver a booster programme from the start of September in line with this advice."

JCVI has recommended that people are prioritised in two stages.

Front-line health and social care workers, those in older people's care homes, the clinically extremely vulnerable and those over 70 are in the first stage.

All adults aged over 50 are included in the second group.

Stage one

These groups should receive a third vaccine as soon as possible from September:

• Adults aged 16 years and over who are immunosuppressed

• Those living in residential care homes for older adults

• All adults aged 70 years or over

• Adults aged 16 years and over who are considered clinically extremely vulnerable

• Front-line health and social care workers

Stage two

• These groups should be offered a third dose as soon as practicable after stage one:

• All adults aged 50 years and over

• Adults aged 16 - 49 years who are in an influenza or Covid at-risk group

• Adult household contacts of immunosuppressed individuals

Dr Richard Vautrey, British Medical Association GP committee chairman, said: "JCVI have listened to organisations such as the BMA by giving early notice of the roll out being prioritised alongside the annual flu vaccination campaign.

"As all doctors well know, winter brings with it a surge in illnesses and infections, and we hope that by protecting our most vulnerable patients with both Covid-19 and flu vaccines, we will prevent more people becoming seriously ill and dying.

"In turn, we hope that this will alleviate pressures on the whole NHS and social care, at a time when we know it is always at its most strained."

On Wednesday, Public Health Wales figures showed about 72% people (2,257,737) in Wales have now had at least one Covid vaccine.

Of these, 1,659,754 (53%) have had their second jab.

Mark Roscrow of the NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership said giving the population a third vaccination would be "a big team effort".

He said the "people behind the scenes have done a huge amount".

"We've done quite a lot of work and pre-planning and thinking through what needs to be done to make this happen," he told Gareth Lewis on BBC Radio Wales.

He said it was likely the third vaccine offered would be an alternative to the one initially offered to each patient for the first and second doses.

Mr Roscrow said the booster jab coinciding with the winter flu jab was an "added complication".

• HAYLEY GOES: VACCINE FRONTLINE: Hayley goes on a fact-finding mission to discern fact from fiction

• STRICTLY AMY: CROHN'S AND ME: The Welsh dancing star shows us the reality of living with Crohn's disease