Yesterday in the House of Commons, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care provided an update on our Covid-19 vaccination roll-out.
The Secretary of State announced that we are expanding the programme even further. He has accepted the advice from the independent experts at the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) to extend the additional offer of a booster jab to people aged 40 and over and offer a second dose of a vaccine to all young people aged 16 to 17 as part of the primary vaccination schedule.
We know immunity to Covid-19 begins to wane after 6 months and new data published today shows a third dose boosts protection against symptomatic infection to more than 90% – this highlights just how important it is that everyone eligible gets their top-up jabs as soon as possible.
To help speed up our protection, changes have been made on the national booking service so that people can book their booster jab a month ahead. This will mean people can book their booster jab 5 months after their second jab, rather than 6 months.
Getting the booster vaccine, when eligible, is the best way to protect ourselves, our loved ones, and the NHS.
I know a lot of people got their jabs at the walk-in clinic last week at the Fire Station. This clinic is currently rotating around Staffordshire and the next nearby opportunities are in Longton on Friday or Burslem on Monday - please see here for details.