Covid boosters Q&A: When will rollout begin, for whom and why?

Last week, Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly announced the extension of the Covid-19 booster vaccine campaign, following the latest advice from the National Immunisation Advisory Committee (Niac).

Who is now eligible for the jab?

Second booster doses will be offered to people aged 50-64, and those aged 12-49 who have underlying medical conditions or live in long-term care facilities.

Healthcare workers and pregnant women will also be offered a second mRNA booster vaccine, while the over-65s and those who are immunocompromised and aged 12-64 will be offered a third booster dose.

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Children aged five to 11 who are immunocompromised will now also be eligible to receive their first booster vaccine.

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When will the rollout begin?

According to Mr Donnelly, it is envisaged this rollout will happen in the autumn, adding that “in many cases” the flu vaccine will be rolled out in conjunction with boosters.

“What we’re planning for in autumn is we could see a big surge in flu. We’re watching what has happened in Australia and New Zealand, flu combined with Covid, combined with a surge in RSV,” he said. “We’re getting ready for what could happen if all of these things came together and the vaccine programme is going to be absolutely key.”

Is this what is being done across Europe?

The latest changes differ from recent recommendations issued by the European Medicines Agency and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control last month.

The two agencies said there was “no clear evidence” to support giving a second booster dose of the Covid-19 vaccine to people below 60 or health workers who were not at higher risk of severe disease. People aged over 60 should be given a second booster, the agencies added.

However, they said the national immunisation advisory groups in each country would “ultimately make national decisions” on who should get second boosters, taking into account the situation in their countries.

Why are we using these vaccines when they don’t stop infection?

Omicron sublineage BA.5 is the dominant strain of the virus in Ireland, and is highly transmissible and more vaccine-evasive than previous iterations. Immunologist Kingston Mills said no number of doses of the current vaccines will protect against transmission of this sublineage.

However, while many people are still contracting the virus, the jab still offers significant protection against severe disease and hospitalisation.

During the most recent wave of illness, hospitalisations rose but the number of Covid patients being treated for the virus in intensive care remained relatively stable.

Are there new vaccines coming on stream?

Companies are currently working on Omicron- and BA.5-specific vaccines, two of which are currently being reviewed by the EMA’s human medicines committee.

The European health body is working towards possible approvals of these adapted vaccines in September. Niac would then consider the recommendation from the European health officials, before deciding how they will be rolled out in the State.

Irish immunologists have said these vaccines will offer much better protection than the current jabs, which are based on the first iteration of the virus two years ago.

Is there public appetite for these vaccinations?

Uptake for boosters has been lower than the initial round of vaccination.

However Prof Pete Lunn, head of the Behavioural Research Unit at the Economic and Social Research Institute, which examines this data for the Government, said more than four-fifths of people have indicated they are willing to take a booster.

Furthermore, he said willingness to get vaccines increases when the number of people in hospital with the virus rises.

Mr Donnelly added that there had been a “very big uptake” in people taking the boosters in the past six to eight weeks.