Covid Booster Vaccine Set to Arrive in a Few Weeks – Matt Hancock

The health secretary said ministers were waiting for the results from trials of different varieties of covid-19 vaccines.

This comes after doctors, and NHS trusts stated that all plans for a booster rollout must start now as it will come with bigger challenges.

They said many questions had not yet been answered, including how long immunity from the original Covid jab lasts. Whether children will also be a part of these vaccinations remains, the health leaders said.

“We are currently trying out which combinations of jabs are the most effective,” Mr. Hancock said to BBC Breakfast. “In the next few weeks, when we get the clinical data through on what’s the most effective combinations to have… then we’ll set out all the details for the booster program for the autumn.”

Amongst these ongoing trials is the UK’s Cov-Boost trial, which majorly involves trialing different combinations of third doses.

A senior government source said the new vaccines from Novavax and Valneva would greatly benefit the UK; these vaccines are still awaiting approval from the UK’s medicines regulator.

So far, almost 60% of adults in the UK have had two jabs of the vaccine, which means they are fully vaccinated, and at least four out of every five adults have had their first dose.

People have been moving out in droves to get their vaccines in recent days, with more than one million jabs booked on Friday and Saturday in England after the vaccinations were made available to all over-18s.

Ministers are vaccinated out of lockdown. The delay to England’s lockdown coming to an end on the 21st of June until the 19th of July, that will partly to allow more people to get vaccinated.

Some restrictions were eased on Monday though, this was the original date for lockdown ending – and some had dubbed the day Freedom Day.

The number of guests at a wedding was no longer to be limited to 30 (although there were some rules concerning the capacity of the venue and the size of the forum), visiting arrangements for care homes have also been changed, children can now also go on overnight trips in groups of 30, and pilots of significant events like Euro 2020 games will commence again.

And in Wales, rules are also being relaxed slightly; these include Covid capacity restrictions for music and comedy and the limits placed on weddings changing in line with a venue’s size.

In Northern Ireland, a planned easing of restrictions has been moved back to at least 5 July; the current rules in Scotland are also expected to stand until mid-July.

The average number of daily confirmed covid-19 cases is presently on the rise in the UK, with a further 9,284 announced by the government on Sunday. Six other deaths were reported.