Sixth formers could be offered Covid booster jabs

Booster jabs should be rolled out to 16 and 17 year olds, the JCVI has recommended.

Booster jabs should be rolled out to 16 and 17 year olds, the JCVI has recommended.

22 Dec 2021, 16:19

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Young people aged 16 and 17 years should be offered a Covid-19 vaccine booster, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) has recommended. 

Currently, only 16 and 17 year olds who are deemed ‘at risk’, such as those with health conditions and/or those working in health social care, are eligible for the booster. The minimum age for the wider population is 18 years old.  

The JCVI’s recommendation for Pfizer boosters for sixth-form aged students comes alongside recommendations to offer “clinically at risk” children aged five to 11 the first two vaccine doses. The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) today approved the use of an “age-appropriate formulation” of the Pfizer vaccination for children aged 5 to 11.

In official JCVI advice published today, booster eligibility was also recommended for young people aged 12-15 who are in a clinical risk group, who live with someone who is immunosuppressed or who are themselves severely immunosuppressed following a third vaccine dose.

The booster doses should be offered “no sooner than three months” after teenagers receive their second full vaccine jab. 

Young people aged 16 and 17 have been able to receive their first Covid-19 vaccinations since mid-August. There is a 12 week gap between doses for this age group. This suggests that the first booster jabs for the broader 16-17 population could be given from mid-February 2022.

The latest Covid-19 figures reveal that a record-breaking 968,665 people received a booster or a third Covid vaccination yesterday. The number of daily positives tests however also broke the 100,000 threshold for the first time. 

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