COVID Booster Vaccines to be Authorized for Purchase by the UK Public
Covid booster vaccines are expected to be available for the UK public to buy for the first time after health officials supported the proposal.
As with the influenza vaccine, pharmacies and private clinics can sell jabs on the street. They are unlikely to be ready in time for an autumn booster campaign, but they may be ready next year.
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) declaration that it supports the concept comes after scientists backed the move amid concerns over a new wave of the virus, which could worsen in autumn and winter.
Since the first COVID vaccination was administered in December 2020, it has only been available on the NHS in the United Kingdom, where it is free at the point of delivery.
The UK government announced earlier this month that the COVID autumn booster program would cover a smaller proportion of the population than previous vaccination drives. The lower age limit has been raised from 50 to 65, and some younger vulnerable groups are also eligible.
Moderna and Pfizer, the two government suppliers, stated that supplying the NHS remains their top priority. Moderna stated it is still willing to “explore the possibility and viability of providing COVID-19 vaccines to healthcare providers for private sales.”
A UKHSA spokesperson told the Times: “We have spoken to manufacturers we’re in contract with and made it clear we won’t prevent them initiating a private market for COVID-19 vaccines, rather we’d welcome such an innovation in the UK.
“As far as we’re concerned, the ball is in the court of the manufacturers to develop the market with private healthcare providers.”
A spokesperson for the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency stated that the currently used COVID vaccines would not require new regulatory approval in order to be sold to the public.
Professionals’ Insights About Distribution
In the United States, private vaccinations may be available as early as this fall, according to reports. Moderna told Reuters in March that it anticipated pricing its COVID vaccine at approximately $130 (£102), whereas Pfizer last year estimated a price range of $110 to $130 per dose.
Prof. Adam Finn of the University of Bristol and a member of the United Kingdom’s Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) stated that COVID vaccines should be commercially available.
Some employers might want to offer the vaccines to their staff, he added.
Finn said in a personal capacity: “I think it will be a good idea for vaccines to be made available to those that want them on the private market.
I don’t really see any reason why that shouldn’t be happening.”
Prof Danny Altmann, an immunologist at Imperial College London, said: “COVID and long COVID vulnerability has been massively skewed to the most socioeconomically deprived – for example, those in jobs least compatible with working from home or taking time off when infected. By outsourcing vaccines to private medicine, we exacerbate this divide.”
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Source: The Guardian
