ALL people over 65 should get Covid booster vaccines in the fall –

Government science advisers said today that all people over 65 are expected to be vaccinated this fall.

Health chiefs also called for an update for around 25 million residents and nursing home staff, frontline NHS workers and vulnerable young adults.

This means that if ministers accept the recommendations, millions of Britons will have a fifth vaccine by next winter.

NHS chiefs have been told to make sure healthcare is “ready to deliver” as the race to boost immunity begins.

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunization (JCVI) admissions list, which may change before the program finally begins in September, is very similar to that for the annual flu shot.

The UK’s historic vaccination campaign, which began in December 2020, just nine months after Covid was declared a pandemic, has significantly reduced the virus threat and saved tens of thousands of lives.

Experts say the milder nature of Omicron and repeated waves of infection also weakens the virus, making it no more deadly than the flu.

Government science advisers said today that all people over 65 are expected to be vaccinated this fall. Health leaders have called for updates to be made available to nursing home residents and staff, NHS frontline workers and even vulnerable young adults.

The latest data from the UK Health Security Agency’s dashboard shows that 92.7% of people over the age of 12 have at least one Covid vaccine, 86.7% receive a double vaccine and 68.6% receive support is showing.

Official figures show that 142.6 million doses of Covid vaccine have been distributed in the UK since December 2020. On the busiest day of the UK vaccination campaign, 21 December 2021, over 1 million doses were distributed as people across the UK were asked to be vaccinated. Stand out for booster doses mid-omicron wave

Professor Wei Shen Lim, head of Covid vaccine at JCVI, said: “Last year’s fall booster vaccine program provided excellent protection against severe Covid, including the Omicron variant.

“We have provided provisional recommendations on a reinforcement program in the fall of 2022 so that the NHS and nursing homes can begin the operational planning necessary to ensure a high level of protection for the most vulnerable and primary care personnel in the coming winter months.

“More updates to this recommendation will be made as we continue to review the scientific data.”

A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Social Care said: “We welcome the JCVI’s interim recommendation for a Covid recall program in the fall and will consider their final recommendations later this year.

“We have asked the NHS in England to prepare to make sure they are ready to distribute Covid vaccines to those who qualify.”

Health directors have yet to decide which vaccine to use.

But the British took Pfizer or half a dose of Moderna in their previous booster applications.

Ministers have not concealed plans for an annual Covid vaccination program that could cost around £600m.

Vaccines are expected to eventually be released each year, in the same way as flu vaccines, to which Brits are invited each September.

SAGE scientists also supported the strategy, insisting it would likely be part of the gradual transition from coronavirus to being endemic.

More than 142 million vaccines have been distributed since Margaret Keenan became the first person in the world to receive a vaccine outside of a clinical trial.

Coventry’s 92-year-old grandmother received her fourth dose last month as part of her spring refill program.

People over the age of 75, nursing home residents, and patients with compromised immune systems were advised to receive the vaccines when the spring presentation began in March.

These groups are given priority because they are most vulnerable to becoming seriously ill from the virus and their immunity is weakened the fastest.

Professor Jonathan Ball, a molecular virologist at the University of Nottingham, said in the fall that the recall program “seems to be the logical approach”.

“We know that COVID immunity declines over time after vaccination or even infection.

Therefore, it seems prudent to empower individuals who are most at risk of developing severe Covid just before circulation of the virus resumes in the fall and winter.

‘Exact timing is important because you don’t want to wait for circulation of the virus to start increasing.

“I hope those most at risk have gotten their jump boosters, but that will serve them well.”