Oxford vax chief criticises UK’s booster jab plan

Advertisement

“My plan is to offer the flu vaccine, especially to over-50s, at the same time,” the BBC quoted Javid as saying…reports Asian Lite News.

The head of the Oxford Vaccine Group has criticised the UK government’s move to give a third booster jab to the most vulnerable groups.

Prof Sir Andrew Pollard said the doses needed to “go where they can have the greatest impact” – to protect unvaccinated people abroad, the BBC reported.

UK Health Secretary Sajid Javid

This was after Health Secretary Sajid Javid said he has already put plans in place to give the most vulnerable groups a third or booster Covid jab early next month.

Prof Pollard said the UK currently has no reason to panic. However, the Health Secretary said he would wait for final advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI).

“My plan is to offer the flu vaccine, especially to over-50s, at the same time,” the BBC quoted Javid as saying.

However, Prof Pollard, who led the team that created the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, said decisions on whether to give boosters “should be scientifically driven”.

Meanwhile, UK recorded another 146 coronavirus-related deaths, the highest daily figure since March 12, according to official data released Tuesday.

The total number of coronavirus-related deaths in Britain now stands at 130,503. These figures only include the deaths of people who died within 28 days of their first positive test.

The country also reported another 23,510 coronavirus cases in the latest 24-hour period, bringing the total number of coronavirus cases in the country to 6,117,540.

Meanwhile, a data from Public Health England (PHE) showed that Covid-19 vaccines are highly effective against hospitalisation from the Delta variant first detected in India.

The data from PHE and Cambridge University showed that around 60,000 deaths, 22 million infections and 66,900 hospitalisations have been prevented by the vaccines.

ALSO READ-London HC orders NAB, Pak govt to pay $1.2mn to Broadsheet

READ MORE-Fresh review to improve London’s terror preparedness

[mc4wp_form id=""]

Advertisement