This page was last updated on 29 October 2021.
Vaccination Booster Programme
Update 15 November 2021:
This morning the UK Government announced that it would be accepting the advice of the JCVI to:
- Expand the COVID-19 booster programme to 40-49 year olds
- Recommend a second dose of COVID-19 vaccine for 16 and 17 year olds
Following this announcement, we are working with the clinical teams to ensure those islanders who are in the groups announced this morning are identified and receive their second dose or booster dose accordingly.
Islanders aged 50 years and over, health and social care workers and younger people at risk are being offered a booster dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.
The booster programme is being offered, in accordance with the guidelines issued by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI). Individuals are being offered a booster provided that 6 months has passed since the date of their final primary dose of vaccine (Dose 2 if you were initially given a course of AstraZeneca, Pfizer BioNTech or Moderna - Dose 1 if you were initially vaccinated with Janssen).
Individuals have been invited in priority group order, from priority group 1 down to priority group 9, and this will continue throughout the booster programme. The Vaccination Team will contact eligible people when it is their turn to have a booster.
The booster programme is currently delivering booster vaccinations to the following groups:
- those living in residential or nursing care homes for older adults
- all adults aged 50 years or over
- frontline health and social care workers
- all those aged 16 to 49 years with underlying health conditions that put them at higher risk of severe COVID-19 and adult carers
- adult household contacts (aged 16 or over) of immunosuppressed individual
What is the booster vaccine for?
We are offering a booster programme in line with the recommendations of JCVI. This is because, like for some other vaccines, levels of protection afforded by the primary COVID-19 vaccination programme may begin to wane over time. This booster dose will help extend the protection a person has gained from their first 2 doses to give them longer term protection. Importantly it is thought that the booster vaccine will help to reduce the risk of islanders needing admission to the PEH hospital due to COVID-19 infection this winter.
JCVI advises that the booster vaccine dose is offered no earlier than 6 months after completion of the primary vaccine course. However, this doesn’t mean that you are ‘no longer vaccinated’ as soon as 6 months has elapsed. Protection against severe disease from the first 2 doses seems to decline very slowly. So, there is no cause for concern if the booster vaccine is given a few weeks after the 6 month time-point. The booster dose should help to extend a person’s protection into the next year.
The booster programme will offer an additional dose of COVID-19 vaccine and the annual influenza (flu) vaccine for the following groups:
- All adults living in care homes – residential or nursing care.
- Front line health and social care workers.
- All adults over the age of 16 who are immunosuppressed.
- All adults over the age of 16 who are considered clinically extremely vulnerable.
- All adults aged 50 years or over.
