Booster rollout is ‘logistically a major challenge’
MILITARY PERSONNEL, MORE HUBS AND PHARMACIES TO DELIVER JABS
A HEALTH expert is unsure how Covid booster jabs will be rolled out so quickly, saying that GPS who helped deliver the vaccine rollout before are “inundated”.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson says he will ”throw everything at” the rollout of the booster jab in a pledge to curb infection rates and the Omicron variant.
Everyone over the age of 18 is now eligible for a booster jab, and it’s hoped that those eligible will be offered one by the end of January, with those who are clinically vulnerable also being offered the chance of a fourth jab.
But the director of the Nottingham Biomedical Research Centre, which has been helping to lead the city’s scientific fight against Covid, is unsure of how it will all be delivered.
Professor Ian Hall also did not rule out the possibility of more strict measures, but said there would need to be “a lot of hospital admissions” for that to happen.
He said: “The rollout would be difficult to organise, this big push of the rollout of the booster vaccine programme, and the question is who’s going to do all of that.
“GPS helped in the past, but now they’re inundated.
“There’s the plan to increase activity at some of the existing centres and pharmacies are onboard, but logistically it’s a major challenge.
“It takes a significant amount of time, and there are loads of people to vaccinate in a limited time.”
The Government has said that 400 military personnel will be deployed to help deliver the jabs, along with more hospital hubs, vaccination centres and 1,500 community pharmacies.
Professor Hall thinks there could be a balancing act when determining if more strict lockdown measures are required.
He said: “This variant would need to be causing a lot of hospital admissions to be requiring more strict steps than the ones already imposed, such as face mask wearing.
“I’m not an economist, but the hospitality industry has been battered and it’s been looking forward to a good Christmas period to recover some of those income streams.
“We’ll have to wait and watch carefully what happens over the next two or three weeks with hospital admissions, and if it did start to climb steeply, we would need more restrictions.”
Professor Jonathan Ball, a professor of virology at the University of Nottingham, encouraged everyone to get a booster jab if they have been offered one, which Professor Hall echoes.
Professor Ball said: “Irrespective of the new variant, if people are invited for a booster, then there is an invitation there for a reason, and it’s because immunity will decrease over time.
“We know that the boost can increase not just the level of immunity, but it can also increase the breadth of what it protects against.”
Health and Social Care Secretary Sajid Javid said: “Since we learned of the new Omicron variant a few days ago, our strategy has been to buy the time we need to assess it while doing everything we can at pace to strengthen our defences.
“Our best weapon to fight the virus is to get as many jabs in arms as possible.
“That is why I asked the Joint Committee for Vaccination and Immunisation to urgently look at expanding and accelerating the vaccination programme in light of the Omicron variant.
“Thanks to their rapid advice we are now able to put our booster programme on steroids. We have set an ambitious target to offer booster jabs to all adults in England by the end of January, while ensuring those most vulnerable to the virus will continue to be prioritised for their booster, and having the gap between second doses and boosters.”
GPS helped in the past but now they are inundated
Professor Ian Hall