Readers expressed frustration and disbelief over the government’s decision to restrict free Covid booster jabs to a smaller group of people, describing the move as “a national scandal”.
Many shared stories of being denied the vaccine despite chronic or respiratory illnesses, saying the policy risks leaving vulnerable people like Ella Halpern-Matthews – who has caught Covid three times since losing eligibility – without adequate protection.
Several said they had been forced to pay privately for the jab, effectively creating what they saw as a two-tier health system.
One reader remarked that it felt “as if the NHS would rather pay the hospital bill than for a cheap jab”, while others highlighted the inconsistency of vaccinating care home residents but not staff, and the false economy of cutting the rollout.
Some questioned why countries such as France and Germany continue to offer free or low-cost boosters to wider groups, while the UK “quietly withdrew” access.
Overall, readers urged the government to review eligibility urgently – calling for clearer communication, fairer access, and stronger protection for those still at risk.
Here’s what you had to say:
Not classified in a risk group
It's terrible that people with health issues related to the lungs are not classified in a "risk group", whatever their age or circumstances.
Unfortunately, it shows once again how inefficient the screening and health coordination is in the UK.
The criteria need to be revised
My wife and I are 69. We both got Covid in 2021. She was ill for five days; I was ill for three months. Since then I am generally short of breath, catch every cold in circulation, have a nagging cough throughout the winter, and have to avoid my grandchildren for fear of what they might be carrying.
Following a chest X-ray I was told my lungs were OK, but clearly I have a problem, despite people belittling it as “man flu”.
We are no longer eligible for the free Covid vaccine, but fortunately we could afford for me to get one privately. My wife did not get one. Clearly, the criteria need to be revised.
Thousands turned away
I've spoken to a pharmacist about this, and even she said that it's crazy how small the list has dropped for those eligible this year for a Covid jab.
Regarding the immunosuppressed: if you have asthma and take steroid inhalers, you're not eligible – but if you have asthma and take steroid tablets, then you are.
Thousands of people are turning up at pharmacies that have booked their appointments online and are then being turned away.
This isn't the pharmacies’ fault. If they jab an NHS patient that doesn't fall into the correct category, then they don't get paid.
If the powers that be wish to see fewer people being admitted to hospital and adding further to the NHS’s winter crisis, then they need to re-expand their eligibility list.
Our solution was to pay
I am immunosuppressed and get the jab. My wife is 72, and as she is not immunosuppressed she doesn't get the jab. This is a worry because if she gets Covid, there's a good chance I will too, as the jab isn't 100 per cent effective. Our solution was to pay for her to have the jab privately at a High Street chemist – although it is expensive at almost £100.
The 2025 strain is very nasty
My wife and I are both in the 65–74 group; we got jabs last year but not this year. This year we both got Covid again.
It's not life-threatening, and I guess we have some acquired immunity by now, but the 2025 strain is very nasty and debilitating, and I'm not sure there are no lasting “long Covid” effects where we might be at risk.
We enquired about private jabs, but they are about £150.
Stop ridiculous prescriptions
Yet the NHS will find the money for minor, self-limiting conditions that are available in nearly every shop and garage. In one year alone, £80m worth of prescriptions were written for paracetamol, which can be bought for as little as 19p in a supermarket! That £80m could easily fund Covid booster jabs for at least two or three other high-risk groups – people like this lady, who are at much more serious risk of acute illness from a coronavirus hammering their already damaged immune system.
Wes Streeting, if you are reading this, here’s a clear argument and a clear cost saving. Stop ridiculous paracetamol funding – we can all afford a packet or three out of our own pockets – and spend the money on more pressing high-risk groups. Just do it, now!
A protective bubble around care homes
It's disgraceful that free Covid jabs have been removed from health workers, like people who work in care homes. It's not enough to vaccinate care home residents – you need to put up a protective bubble around them as well, which means vaccinating all the staff the residents might come in contact with.
The real scandal
Here in Northern Ireland, only those over 75 are eligible. I'm 73 and my wife is 71, and we plan to pay for vaccination. We've had our annual flu vaccine and she had a bit of a reaction, as she usually does, otherwise we'd have had our Covid vaccine already.
For me, the real scandal is that NHS staff here can no longer get the Covid jab unless they pay for it.
It’s as if the NHS would rather pay the hospital bill
I am a man with chronic lung issues going back to severe whooping cough as an infant. Add to that bronchiectasis, COPD, etc., and the NHS doesn’t give a stuff!
I've had Covid twice in the last year, and only because of having a BMI over 40 is there a chance I might get my Covid jab tomorrow. I expect that chance to be an argument with the chemist.
It's as if the NHS would rather pay the inpatient hospital bill than for a cheap jab for me!
Why can’t the UK offer the jab?
Poland is offering the Covid vaccination free to anyone who wants it (although you don't get a choice – this year it's Moderna) and I think you can pay for others in a pharmacy if you want. As uptake is typically low, if you make an appointment online you're pretty much guaranteed to get one. They also do flu jabs at the same time (these cost about €5). Why the UK can't offer the Covid jab is beyond me, especially as there seem to be no mitigations anywhere – no air purifiers, no mask wearing.
A national scandal
Why has there been so little noise about the quiet withdrawal of the Covid vaccine for most people who used to be eligible?
It’s utterly astonishing. This autumn, the NHS is offering the free jab only to people 75 and over, care home residents, and the immunosuppressed. Everyone else, including many in their 60s with clear risk factors, has been quietly dropped.
Meanwhile, across Europe, countries like France, Germany and Ireland are still offering boosters to those 60+ and to a much wider range of health-risk groups. Even some of the smaller or poorer EU states have broader access. Britain is again an outlier.
I was charged nearly £100 a dose for the vaccine, when in France you can walk into a pharmacy and get vaccinated for about €10 or even free if you’re in a priority group.
The lack of coverage of this is remarkable. Has the BBC even covered it properly? You’d think a national rollback of vaccine access would be headline news. Yet soon, no doubt, we’ll be told the NHS is under winter pressure again. In my judgement this is actually a national scandal – yet there is little but public apathy.
Paying for healthcare will become normal
Definitely worth paying £90 for the vaccine – not ideal, but certainly worth the investment for your health.
Unfortunately, paying for healthcare just isn't the done thing here in the UK, but as the NHS evolves (worsens), it will become something most people will have to accept.
Let them show their workings
The change in the rules of eligibility was sneaked in rather than justified with some stats to show that those now excluded are not at substantially greater risk. As things stand, you now get excluded as a 74-year-old with COPD, even though last year you would have been protected. If the government is satisfied that this is a rational decision, then let them show their workings.
I feel guilty
I'm 61, with a dozen health conditions, and am immunosuppressed. I was lucky to get my Covid jab, but I feel guilty when others are denied the jab. Surely this could have been thought out better?
Some of the comments have been edited for this article for brevity and clarity.
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