Dr Jenny Harris, Managing Director of the United Kingdom Health Insurance Agency (UKHSA), suggested that the most vulnerable “relevant groups” in society would still need regular manuals.
Britain is still in a “period of uncertainty,” he said, despite lifting all restrictions more than a month ago.
Experts are unable to predict when a new variant may appear and how it could affect vaccine immunity, he said.
An estimated 8 million people over the age of 75, caregivers and immunosuppressed people over the age of 12 in England can now book their fourth installment. The fifth, and possibly even the sixth jabs, will be released this fall.
Dr Harris was asked in a Public Accounts Committee today if the vaccines would continue to be given every six months.
Refusing to deny that they could be replenished after this fourth round of installments, he said: “For the relevant teams, according to the information we have.
“The spring aid campaign we have is for those who are over 75 years old, for the residents of care homes and for those who are immunosuppressed.
Dr Jenny Harris, chief executive of the UK Health Insurance Agency, said the end of the extra notches did not yet appear in the most vulnerable “relevant groups” in society.
Cases in the UK fell by 5% over the weekend as the latest wave will be short-lived
Covid cases in Britain fell over the weekend as a sign that the current wave could peak, but both deaths and hospitalizations continued to rise. 215,001 positive tests were recorded from Saturday to Monday, down five percent from the same period last week, according to government figures. Ministers stopped posting daily data over the weekend late last month as part of a strategy to tackle Covid and are now considering removing the 24-hour updates altogether. Another 217 deaths from Covid were also recorded in the last three days, an increase of 28 percent over the same period last week. Viral hospitalizations rose 15.9 percent in one week, after another 2,380 were recorded on March 22 — the last date for which statistics are available across the UK. Dr Harris said: “The pandemic is not over, so for the next 18 months, about two years I think it will be a period of calm. “There are some questions about when we can get a new variant and we can not predict it with certainty. “The Omicron wave was the fastest wave we have seen with a lot of uncertainty until our assessment teams were able to assess how well the vaccines against it performed. “The other issue is what [type of vaccine] we want to procure “. Health counselors are currently discussing whether to invest in vaccines specifically tailored to new variants or to purchase more standard vaccines. No. 10 bought 114 million new installments of Pfizer and Moderna in December for the next two years, and also invested in installments for specific variants later in the year. Dr Harris added: “The crucial point … is that we maintain very good working relationships with industry, with our researchers and academic colleagues, on the evaluation side of things to ensure that these conversations continue during during this period of uncertainty “. Her comments come after Health Minister Sajid Javid hinted that millions more may be eligible for additional doses later this year, in view of the country’s third Covid winter. Known for grilling the issue on ITV’s Peston program, he did not specify who exactly would be invited to any releases this fall. However, he acknowledged that there was a need to “push more people”. Experts speculate that another vaccination attempt this year could be extended to include people over the age of 50, covering virtually the same groups that will be offered a free flu vaccine in the NHS. Asked if the boost would be extended to the general population, Javid said: “I think at some point they will.” Despite fears that cases rose again after the easing of restrictions, Covid cases in Britain fell over the weekend as a sign that the current wave could peak. 215,001 positive tests were recorded from Saturday to Monday, down five percent from the same period last week, according to government figures. Ministers stopped posting daily data over the weekend late last month as part of a strategy to tackle Covid and are now considering removing the 24-hour updates altogether. There is growing evidence that infections, which also declined last Friday, could peak, four days before free lateral flow and PCR tests in the UK. They will be available in Scotland until May and in Wales until the end of June. Experts have repeatedly called on ministers not to end the universal supply of cotton swabs, warning that it will leave them in the dark due to large outbreaks in parts of the country. But No. 10 today insisted it would not back down, arguing that the country is now in a “very different” position from last April, when the tests first became available to everyone.
