Covid-19 vaccination centre at a Chemist shop on twenty eighth April 2023 in London, United Kingdom.
Mike Kemp | In Pictures | Getty Images
LONDON — England on Monday began its winter Covid-19 and flu vaccination campaign ahead of schedule because it monitors a latest variant and seeks to avoid one other “twindemic” straining the health-care system.
National Health Service (NHS) England said this system was brought forward based on the most recent expert advice. Flu vaccines can be found to all, while Covid vaccines might be offered to eligible groups including care home residents, over-65s, front-line health and social care staff, and people at clinical risk.
The NHS added that last winter saw high occupancy in hospitals and “record pressure on staff” resulting from the mixture of Covid and flu.
The early start was criticized by the Royal Pharmaceutical Society for coming at short notice and potentially creating confusion for pharmacists and the general public. Winter vaccination campaigns also begin this month in Scotland and Northern Ireland, with Wales starting last week.
The U.K. began to analyze a Covid variant with multiple genetic differences to its predecessors, BA.2.86, in August after it was linked to a “high attack rate” in an outbreak at a care home.
As of Sept. 4, 34 confirmed BA.2.86 cases had been identified in England, of which 28 were on the care home. Five cases resulted in hospitalization and none in death.
Research published Saturday said the variant had not been proven to have a “growth advantage” compared with other variants in circulation. The U.K. Health Security Agency also said there was insufficient evidence to link it to early indicators of increased Covid-19 transmission within the U.K., or to evaluate its severity.
BA.2.86 has been informally refered to online as “Pirola.”
“With concerns arising over latest Covid variants, it is vital we adapt the programme and convey it forward for those most in danger, and so I strongly urge everyone eligible to come back forward as soon as they will for this necessary protection in colder months,” said Steve Russell, NHS director of vaccinations and screening.
4 Covid vaccines are in use within the U.K., from Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, Sanofi/GSK and Novavax.
Health-care bodies world wide proceed to watch latest Covid-19 variants and subvariants, in addition to the efficacy of reformulated vaccines against them. The World Health Organization in August said it was monitoring a strain called EG.5, nicknamed “Eris,” which it said showed “growth advantage and immune escape properties” but no confirmed increase in severity.
Health experts consider reformulated Covid vaccines being rolled out within the U.S. this fall will provide protection against Eris, which is now the dominant strain there.
Each Eris and Pirola are subvariants of omicron, which caused a spike in global cases in late 2021.
Unlike within the U.S., where Covid vaccine distribution is being shifted to the private sector, vaccines within the U.K. are only available through the state-owned NHS.
Other European nations are also set to start winter vaccination campaigns this month.
The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, an EU body, said in an update Thursday that Covid-19 transmission signals had “increased from previously very low levels” in recent weeks.
It noted “sporadic detections” of BA.2.86 within the European Union, which it said had a possibility of accelerating reinfections resulting from its high divergence from currently circulating variants. Nonetheless, it said there was no indication it was related to a “more severe disease or a discount in vaccine effectiveness against severe disease.”
