Ministers are ripping up the booking system for Covid booster jabs amid growing fears the faltering vaccination programme risks triggering a winter spike – and another dreaded lockdown.
Sajid Javid, the Health Secretary, ordered NHS chiefs allow over-50s to book a third jab a month sooner than usual in an attempt to accelerate the slow rollout boosters to combat Covid.
Six months after their second vaccination, people are eligible to receive the booster. Patients cannot book the booster appointment until six months after their second jab. They must wait an average 18 days to receive their appointment.
The delay is believed responsible for why only 4.5million of the 9.3million eligible individuals in England have received the third dose.
Sources tell us that the new plan will be in effect as soon possible. People will be able to book ahead so they can get it as soon after they become eligible.
Downing Street advisers have also examined whether the six-month period should be shortened, but concluded the period is still the ‘sweet spot’ which maximises the boost to immunity levels.
Sajid Javid, Health Secretary, has directed NHS chiefs that over-50s be able to book their third jab one month earlier than currently in an effort to boost the slow rollout of boosters for Covid.
Margaret Keenan was the first person to get the coronavirus vaccine last December. She received her booster jab at University Hospital Coventry, Warwickshire on September 24.
This development comes amid growing tensions in Whitehall about the slow take-up boosters and jabs to 12- and 15-year-olds. This has coincided with an increase in infections and hospitalisations.
One source claimed Boris Johnson had ‘taken his eye off the ball’ because No 10’s energies had been consumed by preparations for the forthcoming COP26 climate conference in Glasgow.
The Mail on Sunday’s analysis found that if the current rate for vaccinations for children aged 12-15 is not accelerated then only one-third of this age group will have had a jab before December 1.
This slow progress has prompted Education Secretary Nadhim Ziawi to request that he write directly to students to urge them to get the vaccine. Other Cabinet Ministers oppose the move, believing it is wrong to bypass parents.
In other developments:
- A total of 44,985 new coronavirus infections were recorded yesterday, a rise of 15.2 per cent on last week’s figure, with deaths up by 12 per cent week-on-week to 135 and hospital admissions up 19 per cent;
- Officials discussed the introduction of ‘lockdown lite’ if cases continue to rise, which would involve more working from home and mask wearing, but stop short of another shutdown of the economy;
- Former Health Minister David Mellor compares anti-vaxxers to ‘someone running along a street stabbing passers-by at random’ in an article in today’s Mail on Sunday;
- Government sources admitted it had been a ‘mistake’ to replace Mr Zahawi as Vaccines Minister with low-profile Maggie Throup;
- The boss of Pimlico Plumbers likened the impact on children of parents working from home to idling on the dole, saying: ‘You’ve got to break the cycle otherwise it’s like when parents are on benefits and capable of going to work, and the kids say, “I’ll do that too”;
- Union bosses were accused of scaremongering after warning No 10 it risks another ‘winter of chaos’ unless it imposes its Covid Plan B, which would see more draconian measures imposed to combat the virus.
MPs claim they have been subject to a torrent of complaints from constituents regarding the slow pace of the booster jab rollout.
The booster jabs are intended to deal with waning immunity among groups which first received the vaccines at the start of the year – but the number administered each day has been a fraction of the rate during the initial programme.
The jabs will not reach the under-50s unless a greater number of the older generation have been jabbed. This is expected to occur in early 2022.
Mr Johnson responded to the criticism this weekend by asking Emily Lawson, the head of the No 10 Delivery Unit, to return to her old job running England’s vaccine programme.
The effort has also been stymied by Mr Zahawi’s move to Education Secretary, Sir Simon Stevens’ departure as head of the NHS and Matt Hancock’s resignation as Health Secretary over his breach of social distancing rules with an aide.
Mr Javid has warned the number of new cases could peak at 100,000 a day this winter, prompting fears of another lockdown – although Mr Johnson insisted that was ‘not on the cards at all’. Chancellor Rishi Sunak also said that the country could not return to ‘significant economic restrictions’.
Professor Peter Openshaw, a Government scientific adviser, said yesterday that he was ‘very fearful’ there will be another ‘lockdown Christmas’. However, modelling by experts on the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies indicated it was ‘highly unlikely’ the NHS would be overwhelmed by the virus, as a combination of vaccine-acquired and natural immunity means fewer people would need hospital treatment than in the early weeks of the pandemic last year.