LONDON: On Tuesday, Britain’s vaccine advisers announced that in the spring, people over the age of 75 and those living in care facilities would be eligible to receive a booster shot against COVID-19.
In January, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunization (JCVI) recommended scheduling COVID-19 booster vaccination programs for those at higher risk of severe disease for the spring and fall of this year.
In addition to providing the booster to children in the age range of five, the British government will also provide it to those who are immunocompromised.
The JCVI announced in a statement that in addition to the bivalent vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, as well as the beta variant vaccine from Sanofi-GSK, a children’s formulation of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine would be given to those younger than 12 years old.
The head of the JCVI’s COVID-19 committee, Wei Shen Lim, said that this year’s spring program would “bridge the gap” between the current vaccination schedule and the planned booster program in the fall, ensuring that the most at-risk individuals would be adequately protected throughout the summer.
