After the over-50s and vulnerable, also over-40s in the UK will soon be able to get a third shot. Vaccine committee JCVI gave a positive opinion on this today and health minister Sajid Javid immediately said to take up that recommendation.

More than 12 million people have already had an extra shot to boost protection against the virus. The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation says that people should be given a dose of Pfizer/BioNTech or Moderna vaccines as a booster, even if they have received another medicine first.

The government wants to extend the vaccination programme in the run-up to the winter months and welcomes the committee’s recommendation.

’We know that protection against covid-19 starts to decline after six months’, says minister Javid.

Research results from a British government agency on the effectiveness of boosters were also released today. According to JCVI, protection against symptomatic COVID appears to be increased to over 90 percent. The committee expects protection against a serious disease course to be even higher.