Over 50s to be offered COVID-19 booster and flu jab this autumn

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has announced a COVID-19 booster programme this autumn for adults over the age of 50, as well as frontline health and social care workers, unpaid carers, residents and staff in care homes for older adults, individuals aged 5 to 49 in clinical risk groups and household contacts of those who are immunosuppressed, based on Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) recommendations (Box 1).

Box 1.Those eligible for a COVID-19 booster vaccination this autumn

The programme of COVID-19 boosters is expected to start in early autumn, but further details have not been provided yet. Commenting on the autumn COVID-19 booster programme, Professor Anthony Harnden, Deputy Chair of the JCVI, said: ‘The COVID-19 boosters are highly effective at increasing immunity and, by offering a further dose to those at higher risk of severe illness this autumn, we hope to significantly reduce the risk of hospitalisations and deaths over the winter.’