Covid: UK orders 60m extra Pfizer doses for booster jabs

An extra 60 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid vaccine have been ordered by the UK government as it puts together plans for a vaccination booster programme in the autumn.

It brings the total number of Pfizer doses ordered by the UK to 100 million.

The expectation is that the most vulnerable groups will be offered another jab before next winter.

Nearly two-thirds of UK adults have received one dose of a Covid vaccine with a quarter having had two.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock told a Downing Street briefing the booster programme would "keep us safe and free here while we get this disease under control across the world".

The government said the additional Pfizer jabs will be used alongside other Covid vaccines for the booster programme.

It is one of three jabs authorised for use in the UK, alongside the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine and one made by the US firm Moderna.

The announcement comes as new data from Public Health England showed that one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine reduces household transmission of the virus by up to half.

Mr Hancock said this was the "first concrete evidence" of how vaccines reduced the transmission of the virus.

A further 29 people have died within 28 days of a positive Covid test in the UK, according to the latest government figures, taking the total by that measure to 127,480.

A further 2,166 lab-confirmed cases were reported on Wednesday.

These extra supplies are not about speeding up rollout now - they are an insurance policy ahead of next winter to ensure the UK has enough supplies to offer people a booster jab.

But there is still much to be resolved about such a programme.

Who will get it, whether it will be given at the same time as the flu jab and how many doses will be needed has still to be decided.

But perhaps the biggest question of all is whether the current vaccines will need to be tweaked to tackle the new variants.

These extra Pfizer doses will be the same as the current jab that is being rolled out - although if a new version of the jab is made the UK could get that.

The deal done for one of the other vaccines on order - CureVac - is specifically aimed at new variants.

But even that may not be needed. Despite all the focus on new variants, there are still plenty of reasons to think the current vaccines will offer good protection.

It is why any booster programme is only likely to be aimed at the most vulnerable.

Mr Hancock said the vaccination programme was "bringing back our freedom", but warned the biggest risk to that progress was the "risk posed by a new variant".

He said the UK had been working on plans for a booster programme for more than a year.

Overall, the UK has secured access to 517 million doses of eight different vaccines.

Including first and second doses, more than 47.5 million vaccinations have been given since the start of December.

The overwhelming majority are Pfizer or AstraZeneca, as the Moderna jab has only recently begun to be used.

The UK regulator is currently assessing both the Janssen and Novavax vaccines, which have gone through successful clinical trials. Trials are ongoing for the Valneva, GSK-Sanofi and CureVac jabs.

Mr Hancock said the "harrowing pictures" of the coronavirus situation in India were "a stark reminder that this isn't over yet" but said the UK was sending packages of support, in the form of ventilators and oxygen concentrators.

The health secretary said "we don't have any excess doses of vaccine in the UK at the moment" but said the country stood "side-by-side" with India.

He said the additional Pfizer jabs were a forward order and had not been manufactured yet, but added the UK had worked closely with India to ensure it got the Oxford-AstraZeneca jab at cost.

Prof Jonathan Van-Tam, deputy chief medical officer for England, told the briefing the UK was close to the "bottom level" of coronavirus.

"We are really in very low levels that are comparable to where we were in September last year," he said.

Mr Hancock added that, while officials would continue to monitor the data, England remained "on track for step three" of the government's roadmap for exiting lockdown on 17 May.

But Prof Van-Tam said while vaccines could reduce a third wave of coronavirus, it was "inconceivable" that there will not be further bumps in the road.

"The modelling consensus is clear, we will have what's called a third wave," he said, but he added he was hopeful it "might just be a third upsurge and much less significant" due to the vaccine rollout.

Dr Nikki Kanani, medical director of primary care for NHS England, told the Downing Street briefing the "momentum" of the vaccine programme was continuing as people aged 42 and over in England have been invited to book their jab.

Mr Hancock, who is 42, said he was "delighted" he would be receiving his first vaccine on Thursday and encouraged others to book theirs.

The government has set a target of offering a first shot to all adults in the UK by the end of July.

Vaccine invitations in Scotland have opened to over-45s and unpaid carers aged 16 to 64 can also register for a jab.

The Welsh government says people aged 40 and over are being offered vaccines while in Northern Ireland people aged 35 and over are now eligible.