People aren’t aware that they have to wait six months before they can have a COVID booster jab, a meeting heard.
Geraint Davies, director of performance and governance at Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes Clinical Commissioning Group (BLMK CCG), told the meeting of the governing body in public (28 September 2021) that the COVID booster programme has gone live.
“People need to access that service by the national booking service”, he said. “The reason for this is there is a requirement to ensure that everyone has a minimum gap of six months from their second vaccination date.”
Dr Christopher Longstaff, a Bedfordshire GP, said: “I think that the public as a whole doesn’t seem to be aware of that.
“They are aware that boosters are happening, but not that there should be a six-month gap.
“At the moment, patients are asking for it early and I think it is really bad for someone to come forward to ask for a vaccination and be met with a negative answer.
“As soon as someone comes forward to ask for it [the booster] we should be absolutely embracing them positively, and say yes, yes, yes.”
Nicky Poulain, BLMK CCG director of primary care, said: “The national team’s guidance to us is that it has to be a minimum of 26 weeks other than those people who are clinically immunosuppressed.
“I think the message that all of us need to take is that your immunity does not drop at 26 weeks, it gradually fades.”
Geraint Davies said: “So far we have done 3,162 boosters, which is a small proportion of our population at some 0.65%.
“We have a long way to go.”
by John Guinn
Local Democracy Reporter
