Give Covid booster jabs to middle-aged and young adults, No10 scientist says

Give Covid booster jabs to middle-aged and young adults, No10 scientist says
Give Covid booster jabs to middle-aged and young adults, No10 scientist says
Give Covid booster jabs to middle-aged and young adults as soon as 32m over-50s and vulnerable Brits are protected, top Government scientist says Professor John Edmunds said vaccines work well, but their protection is waning Third doses should be rolled out to eligible groups and then younger people  His comments come amid calls to speed up the sluggish booster drive 

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SAGE scientist Professor John Edmunds said vaccines 'still work very well' but the protection they provide is dropping over time

SAGE scientist Professor John Edmunds said vaccines 'still work very well' but the protection they provide is dropping over time

The Covid booster vaccine programme should be expanded to middle-aged and young adults once vulnerable groups have been offered a third jab, a top Government scientist said today.

Professor John Edmunds agreed that the boosters should be dished out 'as fast as possible' for the elderly and patients with underlying conditions because they are at the highest risk of waning immunity.

But he said it would 'help' if the vaccine drive was opened up to Britons under the age of 50 'in time'.

Professor Edmunds, a modeller at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, told the BBC Radio 4 Today Programme: 'The vaccines still work very well but the level of protection they’re affording us is falling somewhat and it looks like its falling quicker in the most at risk groups — the elderly and so on.

'So I think it’s right that they are offered a booster dose as fast as possible. I think that's really important that we vaccinate our older population as fast as we can.

'And I think it would also help if we vaccinate - offer boosters doses in time to younger individuals as well.' 

About 32million over-50s, health and social care workers and people with underlying conditions are eligible for the top-up jabs currently.

They are available to eligible groups from six months after they received their second dose. Scientists say this is the ‘sweet spot’ for immunity.

As it stands, there are no plans to expand the rollout to other cohorts. The Government's vaccine advisory panel, the JCVI, said last month that the vaccines were still doing their job in younger groups.

The group said it did not want to fall into a pattern of having to constantly revaccinate everyone.

His comments come amid calls to speed up the sluggish booster drive, so half a million jabs a day are dished out.

Some 6.4million boosters have been administered as of Monday, when 244,992 people came forward for the top-up injection.

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