UNPAID CARERS not included in the NHS Covid Booster vaccination programme
XEC variant spreading across Europe
Victoria: I’m getting a booster because in 2-3 weeks I’m hoping to take a respite break in a big city and see friends, so I want to ensure my immune system is primed for me, to avoid getting sick and passing something to Mum who’s immunocompromised and may not have got her booster yet.
I’ve found a pharmacy who I think has supply and can vaccinate me privately.
I researched this on the chance I’d be eligible AND could get ‘boosted’ before the respite (a stretch I know!). So getting vax’d and we’ll see how the NHS roll out goes for Mum to get her vaccination
Here’s the info I found that I thought I’d share
Information:
The NHS will start offering autumn Covid boosters to the most vulnerable in October.
The following groups will be able to have an NHS Covid booster between 3 October and 20 December:
- over-64s
- people aged between six months and 64 years with health conditions that make them more vulnerable
- people living in care homes for older people
- front-line health and social-care staff, including in care homes for older people
Vaccines from four different companies are in use across the UK: Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, Sanofi/GSK and Novavax.
The NHS spring booster campaign used mRNA vaccines made by either Pfizer or Moderna. Both have been updated to help protect against more recent strains of Covid.
A number of High Street chemists and private clinics sell and administer the Pfizer Covid vaccine directly to the public.
The cost varies from about £45 to £99.
You need to be aged 12 or above, and must not have had a Covid vaccine in the previous three months. You also need to talk to a health professional to check that it is suitable.
A protein-based booster vaccine made by Novavax, which works differently to the Pfizer and Moderna jabs, should also be available to buy soon.
2 August 2024 Gov news
The vaccine should usually be offered no earlier than around 6 months after the last vaccine dose.
FOR AWARENESS
16 August news article COVID: why the UK’s autumn vaccine strategy could fail patients
Unfortunately, the recommendations they’ve made mean even fewer people will have access to vaccines for free on the NHS this autumn. And, the vaccines that will be made available may not be as effective against the current variants as newer formulations would be. This could leave more patients at risk of potentially serious infection.
The JCVI use a number of considerations in costing their recommendations for vaccine campaigns (although they have not fully released details of their costing model). What is clear is that the main concern is the cost of buying and delivering vaccines to prevent severe disease and deaths.
This year sees even fewer people able to access the vaccine for free on the NHS. The boosters will be offered to those over the age of 65, residents in old-age care homes and people who are at greater risk of catching COVID due to a compromised immune system. The JCVI haven’t advised offering the vaccine to frontline health and social care workers, staff in care homes and unpaid carers or household contacts of immunosuppressed people. Fortunately, the government has agreed to maintain the vaccine this year for frontline health workers.
Reduced vaccine coverage leaves those with regular, close access to vulnerable people unable to reduce their own risk of catching or spreading COVID. Although, it’s possible to purchase vaccines from many pharmacies, this is not cheap – with doses costing as much as £100. Many people may not have the resources to pay for one.