THE eligibility for this autumn’s Covid booster vaccination is rising from 65 and over to 75 and over, following a change in criteria in the UK.
The booster will also be available to residents of care homes for older adults and individuals who are immunosuppressed aged six months and older.
Vaccinations for eligible Islanders will be available from GP surgeries from Monday 29 September, although care home residents will be able to receive their vaccine in the home.
Last autumn’s programme covered adults aged 65 to 74 and all those aged six months and over in a clinical risk group.
The ten-year increase in eligibility has been taken by the governments of both Jersey and the UK on the advice of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation.
The committee has based its recommendation on a number of factors, including who is most at risk and the cost of vaccines.
It concluded: “For the development of advice relating to Covid-19 vaccination from autumn 2025, JCVI has resumed the use of a standard cost-effectiveness assessment, in line with other routine vaccinations in the national immunisation programme and the JCVI code of practice.
“The advice is based on modelling of the impact and cost-effectiveness of vaccination where clinical outcomes are stratified by age, high-risk clinical disease groups and patients with immunosuppression.”
It continued: “The use of cost-effectiveness is a key pillar in the consideration of immunisation programmes, ensuring that the substantial investments in the programmes are a good use of public money, and that those funds would not be better spent on other healthcare interventions.
“This has led to a more refined approach to the targeting of the Covid-19 immunisation programme, with a focus on individuals where there is good evidence of a high risk of hospitalisation and/or mortality.”
For more information, go to: Jersey Covid-19 vaccine appointments
