(Reuters) – Britons aged over 75 and those in care homes will be offered COVID-19 booster shots in spring, Britain’s vaccine advisers said on Tuesday.
The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI)said in January that plans should be made to offer COVID-19 booster vaccination programmes in spring and autumn this year to those at higher risk of severe disease.
Britain will also offer the booster to children aged five and to immunosuppressed individuals.
Bivalent shots from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna as well as a beta variant shot from Sanofi-GSK are among the vaccines that will be offered, the JCVI said in a statement, adding that a children’s formulation of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine would be given to those under 12 years of age.
“This year’s spring programme will bridge the gap to the planned booster programme in the autumn, enabling those who are most vulnerable to be well protected throughout the summer,” said Wei Shen Lim, chair of JCVI’s COVID-19 committee.
(Reporting by Anil D’Silva)
