If they're only giving boosters to the vulnerable, what will happen to covid passes?

[LG93]

Sorry if this has already been covered, but if they're only doing boosters for the most vulnerable in the same style as flu jabs, what will happen to the covid passes/everyone else?! Is it only going to be a short lived scheme of by next summer when everyone else's jabs are a year old will they just accept that still despite the fact it's presumably worn off by then?

You'd better ask Boris to phone a friend.

I doubt anyone is thinking that far ahead

I think the intention is boosters to everyone. I've seen no suggestion only vulnerable. I've seen every suggestion it will continue as routine, yearly jabs or whatever they find works. Yes they've lumped it in with flu jabs but that's just because it's not been properly thought through yet - because we're still on the fact that it's a crisis and we're fire fighting, not so much forward planning proper (although I'm sure some factions are behind the scenes, epidemiologists, virologists - Boris not so much).

Vulnerable will be free others will pay, like flu jab.

what constitutes vulnerable, is it an age thing or health conditions. I am a fat 56 year old , no health issues that I know of, but get a free flu jab each year as NHS, wonder if it will be the same for boosters

I think the first nine groups (over 50s and cv) are being targeted for free boosters, as is the free flu jab.

The vulnerable will be swanning about with our season ticket fast passes forevermore and then we'll use our new found privilege to mobilise politically and slowly start taking over the world bit by bit, Mwahahaha.

Or, you know, they'll keep an eye on the longevity of the immunity that is conferred on a population level and think of a sensible solution.

In good with either.

I've assumed the plan is to roll out the boosters in the same order as the original vaccinations were given. It makes sense if the logic is that immunity wanes over time. Group 1 (the very vulnerable) were jabbed first so immunity will wane first. Then it would make sense for them to move onto group 2, etc

I think they should roll it out the same as before, that way we would all have the same time scale to work on. Those who had their first and second doses right at the beginning in December are now coming up to 8 months, so they should get their boosters first. I’m interested to see which vaccine the booster will be, now that AZ can only be used for over 40’s. Will they give AZ to the over 80’s.

Who knows? It was a stupid idea to begin with, that clearly has nothing to do with reducing spread, but people have just gone along with it without thinking of the long term implications. I wonder how they’ll feel if their freedom becomes conditional on them having boosters every 6 months

Where I am, in the latest presser by the CMO, they said they would be studying the timescale of boosters this winter and probably roll them out on a sliding scale as they did the original vaccines. Logically. The first who may be given boosters will obviously be those vaccinated back in January as CEV.

Us over 50s might not be allowed in places if we don't have our boosters, whereas under 50, not vulnerable will be able to do as they like - that is how I see it.

@User56439876

Us over 50s might not be allowed in places if we don't have our boosters, whereas under 50, not vulnerable will be able to do as they like - that is how I see it.

Fortunately, how you see it is unlikely to be true unless you can provide a link that such legislation is imminent?

Who knows, government just do stuff at the drop of a hat.

I don’t think they are really thinking past this winter to be honest. I think they have decided definitely boosters for the vulnerable and are probably planning to get them out ASAP.

What happens after that probably depends on way too many variables.

Given they are now saying those vaccinated can transmit covid almost as much as the unvaccinated I don't suppose vaccine passports will be of much use in the medium/long term. I suspect they are just a short term measure to increase vaccine uptake.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-57667987

www.gov.uk/government/publications/jcvi-interim-advice-on-a-potential-coronavirus-covid-19-booster-vaccine-programme-for-winter-2021-to-2022

Any potential COVID-19 booster programme should be offered in 2 stages:

Stage 1. The following persons should be offered a third dose COVID-19 booster vaccine and the annual influenza vaccine as soon as possible from September 2021:

adults aged 16 years and over who are immunosuppressed

those living in residential care homes for older adults

all adults aged 70 years or over

adults aged 16 years and over who are considered clinically extremely vulnerable

frontline health and social care workers

Stage 2. The following persons should be offered a third dose COVID-19 booster vaccine as soon as practicable after stage 1, with equal emphasis on deployment of the influenza vaccine where eligible:

all adults aged 50 years and over

adults aged 16 to 49 years who are in an influenza or COVID-19 at-risk group. (Refer to the Green Book for details of at-risk groups)

adult household contacts of immunosuppressed individuals

As most younger adults will only receive their second COVID-19 vaccine dose in late summer, the benefits of booster vaccination in this group will be considered at a later time when more information is available. The initial objective for winter 2021 to 2022 is for persons in booster stages 1 and 2 to receive their influenza and COVID-19 vaccines in good time.

@bumbleymummy

Who knows? It was a stupid idea to begin with, that clearly has nothing to do with reducing spread, but people have just gone along with it without thinking of the long term implications. I wonder how they’ll feel if their freedom becomes conditional on them having boosters every 6 months

I know ... we are going to be run like China soon

Even for international travel the new passport makes no sense considering there is already a globally recognised system in place for vaccinations.
It makes even less sense when the nhs England app isnt/wasn't recognised in the UK as a whole. (Could have changed recently and now recognised)

@Indigopearl

Given they are now saying those vaccinated can transmit covid almost as much as the unvaccinated I don't suppose vaccine passports will be of much use in the medium/long term. I suspect they are just a short term measure to increase vaccine uptake.

Are they? I haven’t seen any research to suggest that.

No, they aren't
It's an anti-vax fReEdOm trope.

It was a stupid idea to begin with, that clearly has nothing to do with reducing spread, but people have just gone along with it without thinking of the long term implications

Not sure why this is still being touted - vaccination drastically reduces your chance of passing on COVID. Requiring vaccination for events is therefore one measure that can be used to reduce transmission.

Doesn't mean it's the correct policy to use, but to state they would have no impact on spread is ludicrous.

@Geamhradh

No, they aren't It's an anti-vax fReEdOm trope.

Actually it was misinterpreted from the recent cdc report that showed that an infected vaccinated person transmits the virus to the same extent as an unvaccinated infected person. Of course, a vaccinated person has a lower chance of being infected in the first place though.

Still, if someone is infected, they can spread the virus, regardless of their vaccine status. And that is why vaccine passports are not about reducing spread, @riveted1. Exempting people from testing/isolation will not reduce spread. If you want to keep the risk of people spreading the virus at an event low then everyone should be tested, not just the unvaccinated.

Yes, that's true Bumbleymummy. And, as you know, the people choosing to misinterpret that, by carefully omitting the word "infected" are the anti-vaxxers. A rather large omission , given that a vaccinated person is between 65% and 85% less likely to be "infected" in the first place than a non vaccinated.
That's the ignorance of the anti vaxxers I guess!

Well I think the point was that once someone is actually infected, their vaccine status means little - they can still spread it to the same extent. So should we really be exempting people from testing and isolation? It would be safer to continue to test/isolate, regardless of vaccine status if you’re genuinely concerned about stopping spread.

"Well I think the point was that once someone is actually infected, their vaccine status means little - they can still spread it to the same extent."

They can spread it to the same extent as the unvaxed, but, being vaccinated, they are likely to reduce the amount and potency of the virus in their throats/noses more quickly than the unvaxed, so are less likely to spread it. Additionally, PHE reckons that vaccinated infected people are half as likely to spread infection as unvaccinated.

So, actually, rather than 'meaning little', the vaccination status looks to be quite important.