Boosters for under-50s to raise winter immunity

BOOSTER jabs are being extended to under-50s as the government’s advisers are set to approve third doses for younger people as early as today.

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation is expected to imminently approve the extension of the booster programme to raise immunity ahead of winter, according to The Times.

It came as it emerged elderly people cannot book their booster jabs because the NHS wrongly recorded when they had their second.

Up to 700,000 vaccine passports were affected by blunders this summer, locking thousands out of foreign travel.

Currently, only over-50s and clinically vulnerable over-16s are eligible for boosters five months after their second dose. Some have found errors in their vaccination records, preventing them booking the third dose on the National Booking System which claims they are “ineligible”. For weeks patients have expressed frustration at the site, after being encouraged to book by the NHS and Government, but being unable to.

The online system believes they have not yet reached the five-month mark.

NHS England did not confirm how many have been affected, but patients have reported the problem to the Vaccination Data Resolution Service (VDRS).

Michael Kelly, 70, from Tyne and Wear, who had his second jab almost seven months ago on April 23, said the booster rollout had been a “shambles”. The retired taxi driver has COPD, a chronic lung condition, making him clinically vulnerable.

“It’s so frustrating, the amount of times I’ve had to phone 119,” he said.

Call handlers told Mr Kelly to ask his GP, who discovered his second jab had been recorded as June 18.

His case has been referred to a resolution team, but he was told it could take “up to three weeks” before it contacted him. Healthwatch England, the patients’ watchdog, has also been notified by patients about errors.

“It is preventing them getting the booster as they believe the second vaccination has not been entered into the system correctly,” the watchdog said.

Previously there were 677,331 cases where NHS Covid vaccine records had to be corrected. The VDRS was launched to tackle the hundreds of thousands of errors found in records.

The NHS said the service “supports people with missing or incorrect vaccination records” and anyone experiencing these issues should contact 119.

NHS Newcastle Gateshead Clinical Commissioning Group said it was “sorry” to hear of Mr Kelly’s difficulties, adding they would investigate his case.