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A fourth dose of Covid-19 vaccine is not needed at present, as latest data shows first booster provides high levels of protection against Omicron variant among older adults, says the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI). After analysing latest data from the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), JCVI said: "There is no immediate need to introduce a second booster dose, or fourth jab, to the most vulnerable". Data from UKSHA revealed that single booster dose provides around 90 per cent protection against hospitalisation to those aged 65 and over, even after three months of jab. However, protection against mild symptomatic infection is short-lived and drops to around 30 per cent by about three months. The study, which looked at booster doses in those aged over 65, showed that with two vaccine doses, protection against the infection drops to around 70 per cent after three months and to 50 per cent after six months.

Covid-19 vaccine makers are shifting gears and planning for a smaller, more competitive booster shot market after delivering as many doses as fast as they could over the last 18 months. Executives at the biggest Covid vaccine makers including Pfizer and Moderna said they believe most people who wanted to get vaccinated against Covid have already done so - more than five billion people worldwide. In the coming year, most Covid vaccinations will be booster shots, or first inoculations for children, which are still gaining regulatory approvals around the world, they said. Pfizer, which makes its shot with Germany's BioNTech and Moderna still see a major role for themselves in the vaccine market even as overall demand declines. Upstart US vaccine maker Novavax and Germany's CureVac, which is working with GlaxoSmithKline, are developing vaccines they hope to target at the booster market. The roles of AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson, whose shots have been less popular or effective, are expected to decline in this market.

Britain's booster programme for Covid-19 vaccinations is set to be expanded following advice from scientists. The government's Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) said today (November 15) that all healthy adults aged 40-49 should be offered a booster, six months after their second dose. Previously, the booster programme was limited to those aged 50 and over, and the clinically vulnerable. So far, some 12.6 million people have had a booster dose. The latest advice comes after the UK Health Security Agency released data from a real-world study which found the booster gave over 90 per cent protection against symptomatic Covid-19 for people aged 50 years and older.

Britain's Covid booster campaign is set to kick off this September, after the country became the first in the world to approve an Omicron-adapted shot. Around 26 million people in Britain are estimated to be eligible for an autumn Covid-19 booster, having had at least two Covid vaccine doses already, a UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) spokesperson said. The preference is to deploy what is known as a "bivalent vaccine" that targets both the original virus and the Omicron variant through the autumn campaign, but that will depend on the health regulator (MHRA) approving such shots and the state of vaccine supplies. The UK's Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) has advised boosters should be given to over-50s, individuals in clinical risk groups, frontline workers and care-home staff ahead of the winter, when respiratory viruses are typically at their peak. On Monday (August 15), the MHRA gave Moderna's bivalent shot conditional approval. The endorsement of the vaccine is based on data that showed it produced a marginally better immune response against some Omicron variants, versus the original novel coronavirus - although whether that translates into stronger protection against serious disease is unclear.

Health authorities in India have said that Biological E's Covid-19 vaccine Corbevax can be administered as a booster dose in people who have taken the country's other two main shots, Covaxin and AstraZeneca's Covishield, from Friday (Aug 12). Corbevax will be available to over 18s as precautionary booster six months after a second dose, the health ministry said in an August 8 letter to state authorities. Covishield is produced for the Indian market by the Serum Institute of India under licence from AstraZeneca, while Bharat Biotech makes Covaxin. India has so far administered more than 2 billion Covid vaccine shots, including 113 million boosters, all of which have so far been of the same vaccine as the recipient's first two doses. The government says about 89 per cent of Indians above the age of 12 have had two doses.

A new study has revealed that the risk of death from COVID-19 decreases significantly after vaccination, but this protection diminishes after six months, providing evidence for continued booster doses. Researchers from the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), who analysed more than 10 million cases of COVID-19 in adults in England between May 2020 and February 2022, found a clear association between vaccination and reduced mortality. But they also highlighted a crucial timeframe - within six months of the last vaccine dose - when Case Fatality Risk (CFR) - the proportion of cases that resulted in death - was consistently at its lowest across all age groups. After this, the protective benefit of the vaccine began to wane and CFR increased.