NHS flu jabs and Covid boosters for more restricted list of groups this winter

Free flu jabs and Covid boosters will not be offered to nearly 12 million Britons in this winter's vaccination campaign.

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) on Tuesday issued its NHS guidance on which groups of people will be eligible for its free vaccination programme, announcing that otherwise healthy Britons between the ages of 50 and 64 will no longer receive free Covid-19 booster doses.

The JCVI said its advice was now to offer the vaccine to “those at high risk of serious disease” who are “most likely to benefit from” it, including

• residents in a care home for older adults,
• people over the age of 65,
• those aged six months to 64 in clinical risk groups,
• frontline health and social care workers,
• people aged 12 to 64 who are carers or household contacts of people with immunosuppression.

The Department for Health and Social Care confirmed it had accepted this guidance.

NHS England will confirm details on how and when eligible people can access the autumn booster vaccine shortly, and anyone invited – including those yet to have their first jab – are urged to come forward as soon as possible