Low uptake of Covid vaccines is fuelling concerns of a ticking time bomb for the NHS, which is already under huge winter pressure
The number of people taking up the offer of a free Covid booster jab has fallen sharply this autumn, fuelling, cases of flu, norovirus and respiratory syncytial virus – a major cause of the common cold – are already shooting up – while Covid cases are at relatively low levels with hospitalisations rising only slightly in the week to Sunday, 1 December.
Around 9.3 million people in England, out of the estimated 20 million who are eligible, had a Covid jab in the first nine weeks of the autumn booster campaign – compared with 10.8 million in the first nine weeks of the 2023 campaign, according to figures from NHS England, analysed by Bob Hawkins, a data scientist who works with Independent Sage.
Paul Hunter, a professor in medicine at the University of East Anglia, also said the low uptake rates were “concerning”. Meanwhile, flu jab uptake among pregnant women is slightly higher this year but remains low, at 31.9 per cent, compared to 27.7 per cent last year, according to the UKHSA. “It is still early in the season, so there is still time to change the trajectory and reduce the impact of flu in our communities in time for Christmas, but time is running out.”The number of people eligible for a Covid booster jab this autumn is estimated to be several hundred thousand fewer than last year because carers and household contacts of those with weakened immune systems are no longer eligible.
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