Care home residents, staff and housebound people to get COVID boosters from Monday

Care home residents, staff and people that are housebound will start receiving their autumn COVID booster jabs from Monday, NHS England has said.

Teams will visit care homes to vaccinate residents and staff, while those who are unable to go out due to poor mobility or a chronic health condition will be vaccinated at home.

This amounts to around 1.6 million people.

A further four million will be able to book their booster jabs from Wednesday, with appointments available from 12 September.

This group includes the most clinically vulnerable, those over 75, and health and social care staff who do not work in care homes.

They will be invited by post and are being asked not to try to book slots before they have received their letters.

Another 26 million people will be called forward for their next boosters in the coming weeks, with eligible groups to include anyone over 50.

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These will be delivered in the normal way, with 3,100 vaccination sites, including GP practices and community pharmacies, taking part in the booster effort.

Bivalent vaccine protects against Omicron

Most are expected to be offered a new bivalent vaccine, which has been developed to protect against the original strain of coronavirus and the Omicron variant.

NHS leaders say they do not anticipate any supply issues, but you should take the vaccine you are offered.

The health service’s director of vaccinations and screening Steve Russell said: “NHS staff are gearing up once again to deliver these vaccines at speed, rolling out jabs at more than 3,000 sites across England in order to provide the maximum protection ahead of winter.”

Health Secretary Steve Barclay added: “An autumn booster will top up the immunity of those most vulnerable to COVID ahead of the winter to help us continue to live with this virus without restrictions.”

He added that people should get vaccinated against flu as well.

COVID rates have been relatively low in recent months, with the UK COVID Alert level downgraded from three to two this week.

A level two alert means that “COVID-19 is in general circulation, but direct healthcare pressures and transmission are declining or stable”.

But when announcing the drop in alert level, the chief medical officers of the four UK nations cautioned that further surges of the virus are still “likely”, especially through the winter months.

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