Government confirms that the elderly and care home staff will be first in line for vaccine
The UK Government has confirmed that care home staff and people aged over 80 years old will be first in line when the COVID-19 vaccination programme kicks off next week.
The Joint Committee on Vaccinations and Immunisation (JCVI) has updated its list of priority groups, after the UK became the first country in the world to approve the COVID-19 vaccine from Pfizer and BioNTech.
The advice from the JCVI was given after reviewing data associated with the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. The jab was shown to be 95 per cent effective, with trials revealing that it was well tolerated, with high effectiveness in all age groups.
The list of priority groups for the new vaccine that was announced by the JCVI represents around 99 per cent of preventable deaths from COVID-19 and is as follows:
- Residents in care homes for older adults and their carers
- People aged 80 and over and frontline health workers
- People aged 75 and over
- People aged 70 and over and clinically extremely vulnerable individuals
- People aged 65 and over
- People aged 16 to 64 years with underlying health conditions which put them at higher risk of serious disease and mortality
- People aged 60 and over
- People aged 55 and over
- People aged 50 and over
The JCVI state that age-based programmes such as this are usually easier to implement and therefore achieve higher vaccine uptake. It is also likely to increase uptake in those with clinical risk factors as the prevalence of these increases with age.
News of the vaccine and the promise of daily life returning to normal boosts hope for mobility and access retailers looking to make a strong recovery as the sector moves into the busier spring and summer months.
The news comes as the government has asked local planning authorities to engage positively with retailers wishing to extend their store opening hours and ease their planning rules where possible – a move that is expected to help boost sales in the run-up to Christmas, as well as throughout January.
