Who would ever have thought to look to England for a bit of Flu sanity?
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Only in america
U.K. ending booster availability for all healthy individuals under 50
People under 50 without conditions that put them at risk from COVID-19 will soon not be able to get a COVID-19 booster, the United Kingdom government announced on Jan. 25.
Uptake in the under-50 population has been extremely low since early 2022 and the government is accepting a recommendation from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) to end the booster campaign for most of the age group.
The booster availability to the younger, healthy population will end in England on Feb. 12, the government said.
…Health officials have also accepted the recommendation to end the availability of the initial vaccination, or a primary series, for the population not at clinical risk subject to further consideration, according to Caulfield.
No date has been given as of yet for the end of the primary series campaign. The JCVI recommended it be ended before the end of 2023, narrowing the targets to “those persons at higher risk of severe COVID-19,” including individuals aged 12 to 49 who are household contacts of immune-suppressed people.
Most children are already unable to get a booster or primary series.
‘Transition Continues’
The JCVI said the change in vaccine availability stems from the high levels of immunity acquired through vaccination and/or infection as well as the lower severity of cases Omicron and its subvariants cause, when compared to earlier strains.
“Based on the current data, keeping the booster (third dose) offer open to these groups is considered of limited ongoing value and the overall impact on vaccine coverage is negligible,” the committee said.
Officials also noted that after an initial high uptake of a booster, or third dose, in December 2021, uptake has been low, at less than 0.1 percent per week since April 2022 in all people under 50 who are eligible for an additional shot.
The vast majority of people aged 12 and older have received a primary series but booster uptake has been much less prevalent, especially among younger people. Of those aged 50 and up, the older a person is, the more likely they were to get a booster as part of a campaign launched in the fall of 2022. More than eight out of 10 people aged 75 or older, for instance, received a booster, compared to just 42.4 percent of those aged 50 to 54.
Other developed countries have also seen enthusiasm for the vaccines lag as a growing body of evidence shows their effects are worse initially against the newer variants that have emerged and that the protection quickly wanes, especially against infection. Some studies have indicated that the vaccinated are more likely to get infected after a period of time.
Other Countries
The United States has continued its aggressive vaccination campaign, promoting both the primary series and multiple boosters to most of the population. Even infants and babies are advised to get three shots.
(Executives for Moderna and Pfizer were in Washington at Democratic Party headquarters and unavailable for comment — ED)
Some other countries, in addition to the UK, have gradually eased up on vaccines.
Denmark’s government, for instance, announced in September 2022 that it would stop offering boosters to people under 50.
In numbers released on Wednesday, UK authorities said (pdf) they calculated that tens of thousands of healthy, young people would need a booster in order to prevent a single hospitalization. That included 168,200 boosters to prevent a single hospitalization in those aged 20 to 29.
The calculus was different for older people. For all people aged 70 or higher, for instance, the figure was 800.
Authorities did not provide calculations for how many adverse events tens of thousands of vaccinations would cause. The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines cause heart inflammation and other side effects, including severe allergic shock.
Dr. Aseem Malhotra, a British cardiologist who has called for the withdrawal of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, hailed the end of the booster campaign for many.
“But this alone is not good enough. We must help the vaccine injured & make the government, the regulator & Pharma fully accountable,” he said on Twitter.
