This dose of vaccine will be offered to people aged 75 and over and immunocompromised people aged 12 and over. Five million people are affected.
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A fourth dose of the coronavirus vaccine will be offered to millions of people in England from Monday, the public health service, the NHS, announced on Sunday March 20. This dose of vaccine will be offered to people aged 75 and over and immunocompromised people aged 12 and over. In total, around five million people will be able to receive the vaccine, and 600,000 will be asked to make an appointment this week to be vaccinated, according to the NHS.
“Following the massive success of the (vaccination) rollout so far, we are now offering those over 75 and the most vulnerable a booster dose this spring to complete their protection against this virus.”, Health Minister Sajid Javid said in a statement. In the United Kingdom, each of the four nations (England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland) decides on its health policy. In England, adults eligible for the fourth dose will receive the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine, while adolescents aged 12 to 18 will be given the Pfizer vaccine.
At his Conservative Party conference on Saturday in Blackpool (north England), Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the government would “preparing for the fourth dose because we’re going to need it”. The UK has been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic, recording more than 163,000 deaths.
The number of people infected with coronavirus has recently risen in the UK with record levels in Scotland, where one in 14 people were infected in the week ending March 12, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said on Friday. In England, the ONS estimated that around one in 20 people had Covid at the same time. These high levels of infection are due to the rapid rise of Omicron’s BA.2 subvariant.