COVID Booster programme

Posted by: devon - Posted on:

From 20 September onwards, the NHS in Leeds will be starting to deliver vaccine boosters.

This is to help top up the protection for those most at risk as we approach the winter months. In line with the recommendations of the JCVI, these will be offered to the following people who are at greatest risk:

 • those living in residential care homes for older adults

 • frontline health and social care workers

 • all adults aged 50 years or over

• all those aged 16 to 49 years with underlying health conditions that put them at higher risk of severe COVID-19 and adult carers

 • adult household contacts of immunosuppressed individuals

 If you are eligible for a booster, you will be contacted by the NHS when it is your turn, either by your GP practice or the NHS National Booking Service. We will be working through groups in the same order as the first part of the vaccination programme, starting with care home residents and staff, frontline health and care workers and people aged 80 and over. It will also need to be at least six months since your second dose, so some people will not be contacted until the New Year.

Please do not contact the practice for an appointment, we will be in touch when it is your turn to have your booster.

 Third doses for severely immunosuppressed

 The JCVI has recommended that people who were severely immunosuppressed at the time of their first or second Covid-19 vaccination should be offered a third dose. This is an extra ‘top-up’ dose in response to evidence showing that they may not have responded as well to the vaccine as others and will therefore have lower levels of protection against Covid-19. It includes people with leukaemia and advanced HIV and people who have had recent organ transplants. Consultants have been asked to identify eligible patients and recommend when the best time would be for them to have their third dose.

Patients will be contacted either by their consultant or GP to arrange their vaccination, starting from mid-September.  More information, including answers to frequently asked questions, is available on the NHS Leeds CCG website