Vaccines Minister says Brits ‘probably will’ need annual booster
Boosters forever? Vaccines Minister Maggie Throup says Brits ‘probably will’ have to get jabbed against coronavirus EVERY YEAR
Vaccines Minister Maggie Throup said UK ‘probably will’ need annual booster jabShe said latest vaccine purchases mean the UK will be ‘prepared for future years’Comes after the boss of Pfizer said annual booster jabs are ‘likely to be needed’
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Vaccines Minister Maggie Throup has told Brits they ‘probably will’ have to get a coronavirus booster jab every year.
Ms Throup pointed to the Government’s latest vaccine purchase of 114million new doses which are due to be delivered in 2022 and 2023 as she said ‘it would be wrong of us not to be prepared’.
The comments on the BBC‘s Question Time programme came after the boss of Pfizer, Dr Albert Bourla, said annual vaccinations ‘are likely to be needed’.
Vaccines Minister Maggie Throup has told Brits they ‘probably will’ have to get a coronavirus booster jab every year
Boris Johnson, who received his booster yesterday, has promised to offer every adult a third jab by the end of January
The Government is in the process of rolling out its booster programme to offer all adults a third jab as it seeks to bolster protection against the new Omicron variant.
Boris Johnson, who received his booster yesterday, has promised to offer every adult a third jab by the end of January.
The Government announced earlier this week that it had agreed to buy 114million extra doses of Pfizer and Moderna vaccines to be delivered over the next two years.
That purchase sparked speculation that Brits could be offered a fourth and even a fifth jab in the coming years.
Ms Throup was asked last night if she agreed with Dr Bourla’s assessment on annual jabs and she said: ‘Every year we have the flu programme and obviously we are talking about another virus.’
Pushed again on if jabs will be needed every year, she said: ‘What we have done now is pre-ordered vaccines for future years.
‘I think it’s the right thing, the public would expect us to be prepared for future years. It would be wrong of us not to be prepared, it really would.’
Asked for a third time if booster jabs will be needed every year, she replied: ‘At the moment it looks as if we probably will and looking at the way the virus has gone already, one thing about this virus it has definitely been unpredictable.
‘Just when we thought we were getting somewhere then obviously we have got a new variant.
‘But we have also got to remember the most dominant variant in the UK at the moment is still the Delta variant and the vaccines are so so powerful against the Delta variant so the best thing people can do is to go out – if you haven’t had a jab at all, get your first jab, if you have delayed your second jab, get that, but get boosted as well and we are boosting the booster programme.’
The UK has agreed to purchase 60million additional doses of the Moderna vaccine and 54million of the Pfizer jab.
The Department of Health and Social Care said the deals include access to modified vaccines if they are needed to combat Omicron and future variants of concern.
It said the new deals are in addition to 35million additional doses of Pfizer ordered in August for delivery in the second half of next year, and the 60million Novavax and 7.5million GSK/Sanofi doses expected in 2022.
The department said the Government already has enough supplies of both Moderna and Pfizer for the expanded booster programme.
Dr Bourla said this week that yearly vaccinations could boost population immunity, adding that Pfizer is already working on a new jab for the Omicron variant.
He told the BBC: ‘Based on everything I have seen so far, I would say that annual vaccinations… are likely to be needed to maintain a very robust and very high level of protection.’
