The number of people taking up the offer of a free autumn Covid booster jab has more than doubled so far this year after scientists warned of a winter wave.
The first uptake figures for the vaccine campaign show that almost 3.8 million people had the jab in the first 10 days of the programme – compared to just 1.6 million at the same point in last year’s campaign.
That gap is even more significant considering that, for the first time, carers and household contacts of people with weak immune systems were no longer eligible for an a4utumn jab this year.
But with new figures indicating Covid cases rose another 8 per cent last week, as the UK suffers its fourth wave of 2024 – and a further wave expected this winter – people are taking up the booster campaign in much higher numbers.
“There have been quite a lot of news stories about the new variants and I wonder if this has raised awareness of the risk of Covid so people want to ensure they are protected,” Professor Sheena Cruikshank, of Manchester University, told i.
“I think it’s still too early to be confident on the figures. However if people are taking up the offer more that is very good news. Especially as the spring booster overall had a reduced uptake,” she said.
Concerns about catching Covid do not explain the full extent of the increase, however.
Scientists pointed out that last year’s figures would have been depressed quite significantly because, in the first week of the campaign, the jab was only offered to the clinically vulnerable and people in care homes. By contrast, it was offered to all eligible people from day one this year.
But this year’s uptake is also more than 25 per cent higher than it was in autumn 2022, when it was 3.0 million after 10 days – and when everyone aged 50 and over was eligible, compared to just over 65s this year and last.
This suggests that a good part of the increase was driven by rising demand for jabs after a series of significant waves this year – the latest driven by the new, XEC variant – and the fact that most people in the UK hadn’t had a booster for at least two years, scientists say.
However, a further breakdown of the figures shows that the uptake in the second week of last year’s campaign – when it was available to everyone who was eligible – was still well below the uptake for the second week this year.
This year, 2.18 million people had the jab in the second week, a 75 per cent rise on the same period of the campaign last year, when 1.25 million had one.
Meanwhile, 328,747 had the jab in the first week last year, rising to 1.6 million in the first week this year.
Professor Lawrence Young, a virologist at Warwick University, said: “It’s very encouraging to see that the over 65s are taking up the covid booster in greater numbers than last year.
“This is a group of people who are used to having an annual flu jab at this time of year and offering both covid and flu vaccines at the same time may be contributing to this increased uptake.
“The hope is that this will result in a dampened wave of covid infection over the winter with fewer people getting seriously ill and requiring hospitalisation.
“It’s very difficult to predict how Covid will play out over the winter. The virus shows no sign of settling down and continues to generate new variants with unpredictable behaviour in terms of infectiousness and the ability to dodge the immune response.
“Having a highly vaccinated population (including those who aren’t eligible via the NHS and so opt for a private jab) will help to suppress the spread of Covid – protecting individuals but also protecting the NHS from the inevitable pressures of the winter months.”
Simon Williams, of Swansea University, said: “It is good to see so many vaccinations delivered in the first couple of weeks of this Covid booster campaign.”
However, he cautions that the total number of people who had had the booster by this time last year was higher than it is now because the campaign started several weeks earlier.
As such, it is important that people continue to take up the vaccine in large numbers as the winter approaches, he says.
Bob Hawkins, a data scientist who works with Independent Sage, said the numbers show “this year’s campaign has got off to a great start”.
In 2023, the autumn booster start date was brought forward at short notice to try to get ahead of concerning new variants.
“This meant that the first week focussed on care homes and the clinically vulnerable whilst giving boosters for those 65 years and older really started in the second week of the campaign,” Mr Hawkins said.
Separately, new figures indicate that Covid infections increased by 8 per cent, as the proportion of people with respiratory symptoms testing positive in hospitals rose to 14.6 per cent in the week to Sunday, 13 October, from 13.5 per cent the week before, according to the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA).
Positivity rates among hospital patients with symptoms are typically much higher than infection rates in the general population – figures which are not available for the UK outside of winter. But scientists say they give a good indication of trends.
Over the same period, the number of people admitted to hospital who have Covid increased very slightly from 4.46 people per 100,000 of the population to 4.64.
Who is eligible for a Covid jab and how can you get one?
Booking is now open for the autumn Covid booster campaign, which started on 3 October and will run until 20 December.
Those getting a booster may also be offered a flu vaccination at the same appointment, if they are eligible.
Eligible groups are:
- Adults aged 65 years and over
- Residents in a care home for older adults
- Individuals aged 6 months to 64 years in a clinical risk group
- Frontline NHS and social care workers, and those working in care homes for older people
The eligibility for a booster is the same across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Anyone eligible can book vaccinations online via the NHS website, or by downloading the NHS App.
For those looking to book a jab over the phone, they can call 119 for free to book an appointment via the NHS’s national booking system.
