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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Politics
Dan Bloom

Who's next in line for Covid vaccine and boosters as over-16s get first dose by today

By today, the government claims, everyone in England aged 16 or over will have been offered the first dose of a Covid vaccine.

It’s yet another milestone in the rollout, which has been one of the rare things Boris Johnson has been able to celebrate after pandemic failure.

And latest research suggests the jabs have saved almost 100,000 lives in England - showing their effect at dampening the current third wave.

But as the pace of the rollout slows, there are now mounting questions about what comes next.

We know there will be a booster programme, with third doses offered to millions of Brits, but we still don’t know exactly who’ll qualify or when.

And there are still ongoing conversations about whether to offer the jab to all children aged 12 to 15, with time running out before schools return.

So who is in the queue for a Covid vaccine, who could be joining it shortly, and who is about to rejoin it? We run you through the latest.

A woman receives a vaccine (file photo) (Getty Images)

Second doses for younger Brits

With all over-18s offered a first dose by July 18, and the target to offer all over-16s, that still leaves millions of second doses.

As of August 19, more than 6million people in the UK had received a first but not a second dose - and the system will need to top them up.

Currently the advice is to wait eight weeks between a first dose and a second, meaning second doses will continue right up to October.

Those who’ve not had a vaccine yet

While more than 47million people have had a first dose, uptake has been slowing down.

Uptake of first doses hit 80% of UK over-16s before the end of June, but has since then taken a long time to creep higher.

By the end of July it was around 86% and it is now around 87%.

The government has launched a string of campaigns, including celebrities and community leaders, in a bid to improve uptake.

The vaccine has also been made mandatory for care home staff and the same could happen to frontline NHS workers. But while it’s never too late to claim a first dose, it will never reach 100%.

Booster jabs

Millions of people will be offered a third dose of vaccine - but with time running short, key details still haven’t been thrashed out.

It’s still not known exactly who will qualify, when the rollout will begin, or whether people will be able to ‘mix and match’ different types of jab.

It’s understood no final announcement on who will get boosters is due before the start of September at the earliest, and it is possible it could come later in the month.

That is despite NHS England’s initial “core planning scenario”, published on July 1, hoping to roll out booster jabs between September 6 and December 17.

One source told the Mirror: “Logistics people badly want and need a plan. But obviously it is important to figure out whether people actually need it and if so who.”

In interim advice on June 30, the JCVI suggested there could be two stages to a booster rollout, similar to the rules for first doses between January and March.

Stage one would give boosters to immunosuppressed and extremely vulnerable over-16s; care home residents; frontline health and care workers; and all over-70s.

Stage two would give them to all over-50s, plus all over-16s in a flu or Covid risk group, and any adults who share their home with an immunosuppressed person.

The JCVI did not rule out extending booster shots to healthy under-50s - but said at the time it was too early to make a decision.

A person receives a dose of the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine at the Central Middlesex Hospital in London (REUTERS)

JCVI member Prof Adam Finn appeared to pour cold water on the idea of all Brits getting a third dose.

He told the BBC the group were “trying to identify the people who are really at risk and really need that third dose.

"I think it's less clear really whether a third dose in a more general way, for sort of all people above a certain age, is really going to make very much difference.”

Vaccines for children aged 12 to 15

So far two vaccines, Pfizer and Moderna, have been approved by regulators for use in children aged 12 and over.

But they are still not being given jabs en masse, and the JCVI is still looking at the data.

Currently, all 16- and 17-year-olds are being offered a vaccine.

However, those aged 12 to 15 are only being offered a jab in certain groups - for instance, if they are clinically vulnerable to COVID-19, or who live with adults who are at risk of serious illness.

Last month the JCVI stopped short of a full rollout because of concerns about a tiny number of cases of heart inflammation in children.

This position was being reviewed over the past month.

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