Boost for boosters
Boris Johnson launched a big push today to encourage those eligible to come forward for their booster jabs, warning that it would be a “tragedy” if double-vaccinated Brits became ill without a third dose, reports Caitlin Allen.
The PM’s hope is that further restrictions can be avoided by keeping the vaccine wall strong, and extending the age range for third jabs to the over 40s as well as offering second doses to teenagers.
From next Monday, those aged 40 to 49 will be eligible to get a booster. And, after today’s approval from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, 16 to 17 year-olds will be offered a second dose of the vaccine.
Chris Whitty, England’s chief medical officer, also renewed the call for pregnant women to get vaccinated, insisting it’s safe for them to do so.
So far, 12.6 million Brits have come forward for their boosters. Over two million doses have been delivered in a single week – to the over-50s, front-line medical staff and people with underlying health conditions. Almost 60% of 16 to 17-year-olds have now had their first vaccine and, as of yesterday, one million people aged between 12 and 15 years old in England had received a jab.
Johnson added that individuals have started coming forward in far greater numbers in the past few weeks.
When asked at today’s press conference whether another Christmas lockdown might be on the cards, the PM said: “We don’t see anything in the current data that leads us to think we need to go to Plan B”.
Yet he was also careful about falling into the obvious trap being laid by critics, adding: “But clearly we cannot rule anything out.”
The PM’s latest call comes against the backdrop of improving Covid numbers in the UK, certainly less alarming than a few weeks ago, when we were experiencing some of the highest rates of cases and deaths in Western Europe.
Indeed, Professor Whitty confirmed today that the number of people testing positive for the virus has gone “flat” – though it’s still at a “fairly high level”.
On 11 November, England recorded its longest unbroken sequence of declining daily cases since February, with cases falling for 18 successive days. The most recent ONS figures estimate that one in 60 people in private households in England are testing positive with the virus, down from one in 50 the week before. And hospital admissions and deaths are also down. However, the number of cases over the last few days has started to rise again.
The outlook across Europe is far more bleak. Germany recorded a record number of new Covid infections last week, while lockdown restrictions have been re-introduced in Austria and the Netherlands.
As the PM noted, “storm clouds” of rising Covid cases are moving across Europe and it’s unclear how this new wave could “wash up on our shores.”
That’s why so much effort is being put by the government and the NHS into ensuring as many people have the booster shots since antibody levels gained through the vaccine do wane over time. According to new data from the UK Health Security Agency, the vaccine’s efficacy against symptomatic Covid drops to 44% for the AstraZeneca jab and 63% for Pfizer after five months. Crucially, 14 days after a Pfizer booster jab, these figures jump back to 93 and 94% respectively.
In fact, the decline in Covid cases in recent weeks has probably been aided by boosters. As the FT’s John Burn Murdoch points out, infection rates have been falling most steeply among the over 70’s – the cohort which has already, in large numbers, recently had a third dose.
For those with reservations about the vaccine, today’s press conference will have rung alarm bells. It rather looks as though the UK may be adopting a similar position to the French where boosters are not just strongly encouraged but are a prerequisite for day to day life.
Indeed, Johnson said as much: “We will be making plans” to add booster doses to the Covid pass. In other words, the government will have to “adjust what constitutes a full vaccination”. And who knows how many shots that will be.