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People aged 50 and over can start receiving their coronavirus booster vaccine and flu shot simultaneously, England’s deputy chief medical officer has said.
Professor Jonathan Van-Tam announced on Tuesday that 30 million people in the UK are expected to be offered a COVID-19 booster shot this winter.
He said patients aged 50 and over can receive it along with a flu shot, one in each arm.
Read more: 8 COVID hotspots in England revealed during unveiling of winter plan
He said at a briefing in Downing Street: “Double jabs can begin now, subject to the availability of both products.
“The MHRA [Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency] looked at data from trials of concurrent administration of influenza in one arm and COVID in the other.
Watch: COVID booster program to go ‘full speed’
“The antibody response to these two vaccines is not altered by doing so, and the tolerance of doing it at the same time is also good.”
Professor Van-Tam added that “it may not always be possible to co-administer these two vaccines to each patient”.
He said that the waiting and observation period surrounding the administration of coronavirus vaccines is a longer process than for influenza vaccines, so “the mesh of these two sets in practical terms will not always be simple”.
Read more: How serious is the pandemic compared to the same time last year?
Booster vaccines will be offered to people aged 50 and over, people in retirement homes and frontline social and health workers, the government said.
Experts said the Pfizer / BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine should be used as a booster dose for more than 30 million people, and that it can be safely administered with the usual winter flu vaccine.
Anyone who is clinically extremely vulnerable and anyone between the ages of 16 and 65 in a risk group for COVID-19 will also be eligible for a jab.
Professor Van-Tam said a vaccine combining protection against the flu and the coronavirus could be developed in the future.
“Someday I guess it’s possible the developers might come up with bivalent vaccines – in other words, flu and COVID in the same jab,” he said.
“It’s really not beyond the bounds of scientific possibility considering how amazing it is to get to where we are in such a short time.
“So that’s always a possibility for the future.”
Despite the vaccination program, Professor Van-Tam warned of a “bumpy” winter ahead.
Read more: Vaccinate children aged five and over “next issue on the horizon”
He said the COVID vaccines had been “incredibly successful” and had so far prevented an estimated 24 million cases and 112,000 deaths.
“But we also know that this pandemic is still active. We have not gone beyond the pandemic, we are still in an active phase, ”he added.
“We know this winter could be bumpy at times and we know that other respiratory viruses such as influenza and RSV [respiratory syncytial virus] are very likely to make a comeback.
Watch: The ‘bumpy’ winter ahead as the vaccine booster program is announced
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