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Patients in England could receive routine annual Covid vaccines alongside their flu shots, Vaccines Minister Nadhim Zahawi said as the government prepares to launch the booster program in the coming days.
Scientists have warned that the NHS would likely be under significant pressure from other seasonal illnesses as well as Covid-19 infections.
Zahawi said he hopes the recall program will be the “final piece of the puzzle” to keep the company going through the winter without lockdown.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today program, he said: “Where possible we will try to co-administer – with a caveat – with the flu. General practitioners and pharmacies, pillars of the vaccination program, can vaccinate many people quickly.
“This is probably the last piece of the puzzle for us to take this virus from a pandemic to an endemic and I hope that by next year we will be able to deal with this virus with a program. annual vaccination as we do with the flu. “
Professor Ravi Gupta, a member of the Advisory Group on New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats (Nervtag), said the current Covid-19 figures “don’t bode well for the winter” and hinted that the ministers were right not to rule out further blockages.
Boris Johnson is due to confirm the start of a booster program for those over 50 on Tuesday, a day after government scientists finally approved vaccinations for older schoolchildren.
The vice-chairman of the Joint Committee on Immunization and Immunization, who had refused to approve children’s vaccines for purely medical reasons, admitted that the delay in approving vaccines would cause “uncertainty, hesitation and debates ”among families.
The UK’s chief medical officers approved the children’s program on the basis that, although the medical decision was finely balanced, offering the vaccination would have the benefit of avoiding disrupting education.
“I think the public will eventually appreciate our honesty and I think they will also appreciate the perspective of the marketing managers and the government giving them choice,” said Professor Anthony Harnden. “Sometimes life isn’t black and white, and that’s one of those situations.”
Zahawi said children could only choose to be vaccinated against the coronavirus against their parents’ wishes after a meeting with a clinician.
“On the very rare occasion where there is a difference of opinion between the parent and the 12-15 year old, where the parent for example does not want to give his consent but the 12-15 year old wants to be vaccinated. , then the first step is for the clinician to bring the parent and child together to see if they can come to consent, ”he said.
“If that is not possible, then if the child is judged competent – and this has existed since the 1980s for all immunization programs in schools – if the child is judged competent, the Gillick competence as one calls him, then the child can be vaccinated.
Johnson will present his ‘winter plan’ on Tuesday afternoon – intending to send a signal that the closures will be a last resort in removing some powers from the coronavirus law to disrupt businesses and mass gatherings . However, most of the foreclosure powers derive from the 1984 Public Health Act.
At a press conference, the Prime Minister will stress the need to keep certain measures in reserve and announce a “toolbox” of measures to control the virus that could be introduced – such as a return to compulsory mask wearing in certain contexts and tell people to work from home whenever possible.
Zahawi said: “Lockdowns would be absolutely a last resort. We are about to launch a massive recall campaign and of course a flu shot program. I’m concerned about the flu, we haven’t had a lot of flu circulating around the world, and in a bad year we could lose up to 25,000 people to the flu.
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