The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) have published a statement regarding JCVI’s interim advice on who to prioritise for a third dose of the COVID-19 vaccination later in the year.
The advice will impact many young people and families with a childhood liver condition.
It may be a two-stage programme alongside the annual flu vaccination programme. However, further details about the process and the final JCVI advice will be published before September to consider the latest situation. Please be aware the final advice could change.
The JCVI’s interim advice is that a third booster jab is offered to the following groups in two stages:
Stage 1:
The following people should be offered a third dose COVID-19 booster vaccine and the annual influenza vaccine, as soon as possible from September 2021:
- adults aged 16 years and over who are immunosuppressed.
- those living in residential care homes for older adults.
- all adults aged 70 years or over.
- adults aged 16 years and over who are considered clinically extremely vulnerable.
- frontline health and social care workers.
Stage 2:
The following people should be offered a third COVID-19 booster vaccine as soon as practicable after Stage 1, with equal emphasis on deployment of the influenza vaccine where eligible:
- all adults aged 50 years and over.
- all adults aged 16 – 49 years who are in an influenza or COVID-19 at-risk group as outlined in the Green Book.
- adult household contacts of immunosuppressed individuals.
The full press release can be viewed here.
COVID-19 vaccination in transplant recipients and on those on the waiting list
There has been an interesting update from NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) regarding the effectiveness of vaccination in adult transplant recipients. There was a concern that the vaccine may not be as effective for patients who need to take anti-rejection medication. However, data from Public Health England, analysed by NHSBT, strongly supports the recommendation that, in the absence of any other health contraindication, suitable transplant recipients and patients on the transplant waiting list should accept the offer of two doses of the vaccine for maximum protection against contracting or dying from COVID-19.
Of approximately 39,000 transplant recipients who had received both vaccine doses, less than 1% (76) contracted COVID-19 two weeks or more after second vaccine dose. Click here to view the full statement and further data.