Booster jabs will be offered to under-18s from tomorrow as the Government prepares to drastically reduce Covid restrictions.
Around 40,000 ‘high risk’ 16 and 17-year-olds will be eligible for their top-up dose when the national booking service opens on Monday, in the latest phase of the vaccine programme.
Previously, boosters were only recommended for clinically vulnerable 16 and 17-year-olds who were most at risk from Covid-19.
But recent data from the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has shown that two doses of the vaccine are not enough to stop people becoming unwell from Omicron, but a booster significantly increases protection against the variant.
The NHS has said more in the age group will be able to get boosted ‘in the coming weeks as they reach three months since their second jab’.
Dr Nikki Kanani, GP and deputy lead for the NHS vaccination programme, said: ‘The NHS Covid-19 vaccination programme is expanding once again to offer eligible young people aged 16 and 17 the chance to book their boosters through the online booking service from tomorrow, with walk-in sites also available across the country, as the biggest and fastest vaccine drive in health service history continues at pace.
Booster jabs will be offered to around 40,000 ‘high risk’ 16 and 17-year-olds from tomorrow under new plans. Pictured: A teenager is vaccinated at Cardiff Bay vaccination centre
‘Covid has caused so much disruption for so many families over the past two years, affecting young people’s lives and education, and getting vaccinated protects them, their family and their friends, letting them stay at school and continue socialising.
‘We know that the best protection against coronavirus is to get vaccinated and I’d urge everyone, whatever your age, to come forward and get that vital top-up as soon as it is possible.’
More than 600,000 in the age group in England have had their second jab, and will be able to get boosted in the coming weeks as they reach three months after the second dose.
Since the vaccination programme rolled out to this age group in August, more than 889,700 teenagers in England – seven in 10 people aged 16 and 17 – have had their first dose.
The NHS said invitations will be sent out this week encouraging people in the age group to book their appointment through the online booking service, or by finding their nearest walk-in site.
Health and Social Care Secretary Sajid Javid said: ‘More than four in five adults in England have already been boosted, helping to protect them from severe illness and reduce the pressure on the NHS in the face of Omicron.
‘We’re now extending the programme to 16 and 17-year-olds so they can top-up their immunity this winter to keep themselves and their friends safe.
‘We can learn to live with Covid-19 if everybody comes forward for their vaccines and gets boosted now.’
However the NHS said that, in line with Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) guidance, it cannot vaccinate 16 and 17-year-olds within 12 weeks, or 84 days, of a positive Covid-19 test.
Those aged 16 and 17 and considered at high risk from Covid-19 must wait four weeks, or 28 days, from the date of a positive Covid-19 test before getting any dose of the vaccine.
More than 114 million doses have been delivered in England since the Covid-19 Vaccination Programme started in December 2020, including more than 30 million top-up doses.
It comes as fully vaccinated travellers will be able to go on half-term holidays in February without the need to take a test on their return, as the Government prepares to drastically reduce Covid restrictions.
Health Secretary Sajid Javid said he expects almost all Covid curbs to end in a fortnight because ‘the data is moving in the right direction’.
It comes after Boris Johnson announced earlier this month that travellers arriving in England would no longer have to take a pre-departure Covid test.
He also axed the requirement for travellers to self-isolate on arrival until they receive a negative PCR test, with people now required to just take a lateral flow test within two days instead.
Yesterday another 81,713 positive tests of Covid were logged, according to Government dashboard data, dropping by nearly half on the figure last week.
There were another 287 deaths that were registered yesterday which is an eight per cent fall compared to last Saturday.
Daily hospitalisations have remained flat with the latest data showing 2,423 new admissions on January 10, down by less than a per cent on the previous week.
Dr Susan Hopkins, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) chief medical adviser, said parts of the UK were seeing the number of infections flatten.
But she added cases were still relatively high, with one in 15 people in England infected and one in 20 elsewhere in the UK, but that there was a ‘slow down’ in hospital admissions.
Other experts said the decrease in cases was ‘giving cause for optimism’, while the Welsh Government began to ease restrictions.
It came as it was revealed this week that millions of Covid vaccines could be binned unless booster uptake picks up in young people.
The booster drive has slowed to just 140,000 jabs a day, barely a fifth of the number being dished out in the run-up to Christmas.
This is despite 20million adults in England still being without their extra doses — or 40 per cent of all over-18s. Rates are even lower in 18-24 year olds, sitting at around the 30 per cent mark.
Official figures show uptake is lowest among 18 to 24-year-olds, where just 28.9 per cent have been boosted (or 1.5 out of 5.3million in the age group up to January 13).
Health Secretary Sajid Javid said he expects almost all Covid curbs to end in a fortnight because ‘the data is moving in the right direction’
Since the vaccination programme rolled out to this age group in August, more than 889,700 teenagers in England – seven in 10 people aged 16 and 17 – have had their first dose
They are followed by 25 to 29-year-olds where 31.3 per cent have got their third dose (or 1.4 out of 4.5million), and 30 to 34-year-olds where 36.7 per cent have three jabs (1.7 out of 4.8million).
Uptake is highest among the over-75s where 91.7 per cent are boosted (4.5 out of 4.9million), and adults in their early 70s at 90 per cent (2.5 out of 2.8million).
Government figures show that while 80 per cent of the eligible population is now boosted, this falls to 57 per cent among 18 to 34-year-olds.
Older people are most at risk of suffering serious disease and being hospitalised if they catch the virus.
But scientists say boosters benefit all age groups because they slash the risk of hospitalisation by up to 88 per cent, and reduce the risk of a symptomatic infection by 70 per cent.
In December the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said it was planning to allow for children aged 12 to 15 to receive the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 booster in the new year, according to a report by the New York Times.
It came as Germany and Spain started vaccinating children as young as five in a bid to keep schools open.
The EU’s medicines watchdog last year approved the Pfizer-BioNTech shot for five to 11-year-olds, an age group experiencing high coronavirus infection rates across the continent.
Germany, Spain, Greece and Hungary were among those opening up their inoculation drives to the age group, with doctors reporting strong initial demand from parents.
Denmark and some Austrian regions already began offering jabs to younger children in November.
Last September anti-vaxx protesters appeared outside Simon Langton Girls’ Grammar School in Canterbury after the government announced it would begin rolling out Covid-19 vaccines to children aged 12 to 15.
The protesters had already shown up outside the school gates earlier in the month when they were seen handing out literature to pupils.
Two days later, the Abbey School in Faversham was targeted, with police being called after a woman was reportedly assaulted.
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