Millions of Britons could need Covid boosters every six months for the foreseeable future, a health boss hinted today.
Dr Jenny Harries, chief executive of the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), suggested the most vulnerable 'relevant groups' in society will still need regular top-up jabs.
Britain is still in a 'period of uncertainty', she said, despite all restrictions being lifted more than a month ago.
Experts are unable to predict when a new variant may occur and how it could affect immunity from vaccines, she said.
Around 8million over-75s, care home residents and immunocompromised over-12s in England are eligible for fourth doses this spring. Fifth, and potentially even sixth jabs, will be rolled out to a wider group this autumn.
Dr Harries was asked at a Public Accounts Committee today whether boosters would continue to be dished out every six months.
Refusing to deny they could be topped up again after this fourth round of doses, she said: 'For relevant groups, as per the evidence we have.
'The spring booster campaign we have is for those who are over 75, care home residents and those who are immunocompromised.'
Dr Harries said: 'The pandemic is not over so for the next 18 months, two years or so I think it will be a settling down period.
'There are a couple of issues about when we might get a new variant and we can't predict that with any certainty.
'The Omicron wave was the fastest wave we have seen with a lot of uncertainty until our evaluative teams were able to assess how well vaccines were performing against it.
'The other issue is what [type of vaccine] we want to procure.'
Health advisers are currently in discussion over whether to invest in vaccines tailored specifically to new variants or buy more standard jabs.
No10 bought 114million new Pfizer and Moderna doses in December for use over the next two years, while also investing in variant-specific doses for later in the year.
Dr Harries added: 'The critical point ... is that we retain really good working relationships with industry, with our research and academic colleagues, with our evaluation side of things to ensure that those conversations continue during this period of uncertainty.'
The worlds leading expert on viruses and vaccines billionaire Bill Gates said the omicron variant moved faster than COVID-19 vaccines, creating a high level of natural immunity.
While speaking at the Munich Security Conference, Gates, who has helped to fund the development and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, was asked for his opinion on where the pandemic stands.
“Sadly, the virus itself, particularly, the variant called omicron, is a type of vaccine, that is, it creates both B-cell and T-cell immunity, and it’s done a better job getting out to the world population than we have with vaccines,” the Microsoft co-founder said. “That means the chance of severe disease, which is mainly associated with being elderly and having obesity or diabetes, those risks are now dramatically reduced because of that infection, exposure.”
Gates the son of a famed obsessive eugenicist, who is not a medical doctor or academic, noted that vaccination efforts moved too slowly for his liking.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/.../Health-chief-hints...
“It’s sad we didn’t do a great job on therapeutics, only two years in, and we have a good therapeutic,” Gates said. “Vaccines have took us two years to be in oversupply. Today, there are more vaccines than there is demand for vaccines.”
Gates called for a quicker response “more like six months.”
Millions of Britons could need Covid boosters every six months for the foreseeable future, a health boss hinted today.
Dr Jenny Harries, chief executive of the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), suggested the most vulnerable 'relevant groups' in society will still need regular top-up jabs.
Britain is still in a 'period of uncertainty', she said, despite all restrictions being lifted more than a month ago.
Experts are unable to predict when a new variant may occur and how it could affect immunity from vaccines, she said.
Around 8million over-75s, care home residents and immunocompromised over-12s in England are eligible for fourth doses this spring. Fifth, and potentially even sixth jabs, will be rolled out to a wider group this autumn.
Dr Harries was asked at a Public Accounts Committee today whether boosters would continue to be dished out every six months.
Refusing to deny they could be topped up again after this fourth round of doses, she said: 'For relevant groups, as per the evidence we have.
'The spring booster campaign we have is for those who are over 75, care home residents and those who are immunocompromised.'
Dr Harries said: 'The pandemic is not over so for the next 18 months, two years or so I think it will be a settling down period.
'There are a couple of issues about when we might get a new variant and we can't predict that with any certainty.
'The Omicron wave was the fastest wave we have seen with a lot of uncertainty until our evaluative teams were able to assess how well vaccines were performing against it.
'The other issue is what [type of vaccine] we want to procure.'
Health advisers are currently in discussion over whether to invest in vaccines tailored specifically to new variants or buy more standard jabs.
No10 bought 114million new Pfizer and Moderna doses in December for use over the next two years, while also investing in variant-specific doses for later in the year.
Dr Harries added: 'The critical point ... is that we retain really good working relationships with industry, with our research and academic colleagues, with our evaluation side of things to ensure that those conversations continue during this period of uncertainty.'
The worlds leading expert on viruses and vaccines billionaire Bill Gates said the omicron variant moved faster than COVID-19 vaccines, creating a high level of natural immunity.
While speaking at the Munich Security Conference, Gates, who has helped to fund the development and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, was asked for his opinion on where the pandemic stands.
“Sadly, the virus itself, particularly, the variant called omicron, is a type of vaccine, that is, it creates both B-cell and T-cell immunity, and it’s done a better job getting out to the world population than we have with vaccines,” the Microsoft co-founder said. “That means the chance of severe disease, which is mainly associated with being elderly and having obesity or diabetes, those risks are now dramatically reduced because of that infection, exposure.”
Gates the son of a famed obsessive eugenicist, who is not a medical doctor or academic, noted that vaccination efforts moved too slowly for his liking.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/.../Health-chief-hints...
“It’s sad we didn’t do a great job on therapeutics, only two years in, and we have a good therapeutic,” Gates said. “Vaccines have took us two years to be in oversupply. Today, there are more vaccines than there is demand for vaccines.”
Gates called for a quicker response “more like six months.” ☠️
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