Omicron variant of COVID-19 and JCVI guidance / information

Posted on December 1st, 2021

Urgent work is ongoing to fully understand how the Omicron variant may change the behaviour of the virus with regards to vaccines and transmissibility. We will update you when we have more information.

Vaccines continue to remain the best line of defense. The Government has good reason to remain confident that our current vaccines will provide protection against the new variant but the extent of this continues to be investigated.

All adults who have not yet received their first or second dose of the vaccine, or those who are eligible for their booster are encouraged to come forward to help protect themselves and others. This can be done through the national booking service.

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) now advises:

• All adults aged 18 to 39 years should be offered a booster dose, in order of descending age groups, to increase their levels of protection.

• Booster doses should be given no sooner than three months after the primary course.

• All severely immunosuppressed individuals should be offered their booster dose no sooner than three months after completing their primary course of 3 doses. • Young people aged 12 to 15 years should receive a second dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, no sooner than 12 weeks after their first dose.

The booster will be offered in order of descending age groups, with priority given to the vaccination of older adults and those in a COVID-19 at-risk group. This will accelerate the deployment of COVID-19 vaccines and raise levels of protection across the population.

The NHS is working on the plans to offer the booster to the new groups above. But please note that this is not available yet. We will update you as the service develops but please remember the NHS will contact you when it is your turn. Please do not ring the GP practice.