In England, the National Health Service (NHS) has started giving COVID booster doses at walk-in clinics, aiming to increase the vaccination rate before what could be a challenging winter, according to The Guardian.
From today, people who had their second dose of a COVID vaccine at least six months ago can go to walk-in centers without making an appointment. The centers are also offering vaccines to children aged between 12 and 15.
However, the NHS move has been following criticism of the booster campaign, as only about half of the 12 million people in England are eligible for a third vaccine so far. Meanwhile, the vaccination rate among teenagers is lagging behind in England, as well as France, Italy, and Spain.
General practitioner Dr. Nikki Kanani said, “NHS staff are making it as easy as possible for people to get their top-up vaccination, and from today people can now go online, find their nearest site, and go and get their booster without delay.”
“The booster is not just nice to have. It is really important protection ahead of what we know will be a challenging winter,” added Dr. Kanani who is a deputy lead for the NHS Covid-19 vaccination program.
The NHS advises people to use the department’s online walk-in finder to check the nearest center and find out whether it is offering boosters.
On Friday, the agency updated clinical guidelines to allow care home residents and vulnerable people to get their boosters a month early so they can have an enhanced immunity during the winter.
The latest evidence shows that protection against COVID illness falls from 65% up to three months after getting the second dose to 45% six months after the second dose for the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, while the protection goes from 90% to 65% for the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.
In addition, with the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, the protection against hospitalization is estimated to fall from 95% to 75%, and for Pfizer-BioNTech, from 99% to 90%.
On Sunday, the UK reported more than 38,000 cases and 74 deaths.
The story was published in The Guardian.
