Spring COVID-19 booster to be offered to the most vulnerable
The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) has confirmed the spring COVID-19 booster campaign will be rolled out. Boosters should be offered to:
- Adults aged 75 years and over
- Residents in a care home for older adults
- Individuals aged 5 years and over who are immunosuppressed.
Those eligible will be offered the vaccine around 6 months after their previous dose, with NHS England to confirm operational details soon.
Vaccine supply
The JCVI has advised the following vaccines can be used in the spring 2023 programme, depending on a person's age and local supply considerations:
- Pfizer-BioNTech bivalent
- Moderna bivalent
- Sanofi/GSK monovalent (beta variant)
- Novavax monovalent (wild-type variant) – only for use when alternative products are not considered clinically suitable.
Professor Wei Shen Lim, Chair of the JCVI's COVID-19 Committee, said: ‘This year's spring programme will bridge the gap to the planned booster programme in the autumn, enabling those who are most vulnerable to be well protected throughout the summer.’
Dr Mary Ramsay, Head of Immunisation at the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), said: ‘COVID-19 is still circulating widely, and we have recently seen increases in older people being hospitalised. It is important those at highest risk of severe illness do not become complacent and I would encourage everyone who is eligible to come forward once the booster programme starts.’
The spring booster campaign will be set to end on 30 June 2023 and ‘the offer of a first or second dose of COVID vaccine will end at this time’, Health and Social Care Secretary Steve Barclay said.
Women's health hubs to expand
The Department for Health and Social Care has announced that £25 million of new funding has been allocated for new women's health hubs in England. The hubs aim to improve access and quality of care for services for menstrual problems, contraception, pelvic pain, menopause care and more.
Minister for Women's Health, Maria Caulfield said: ‘Women make up 51% of the population and should not be an afterthought in healthcare. Better access to specialist services is key to tackling health inequalities – the £25 million funding will create new women's health hubs providing specialist care and advice to women across the country.’
The hubs will be tailored to meet local women's needs. They will focus on delivering services in the community that streamline access to women's health services, for example by providing management of contraception and heavy bleeding in one visit or including cervical screening with other aspects of women's health care. Currently, women often need to attend multiple appointments to access these services.
Professor Dame Lesley Regan, Women's Health Ambassador: ‘As a practicing gynaecologist, I have first-hand experience of how important it is for women to have easy access to the right care when they need it. Although a woman's health needs change during her life course, most of them are predictable. It is crucial that we provide her with the best information and support at each and every stage of her journey.’
The hubs aim to create longer-term savings for the NHS through improving access to preventative care and reducing pressure on secondary care services.
Early adopter women's health hubs already exist in Liverpool and Manchester. These have been well received by women in their area and are offering a significant increase in appointments for long-acting reversible contraception, alongside menstrual health, menopause and pelvic floor care.
NHS chief executive, Amanda Pritchard, said: ‘They [the hubs] are already making a huge difference where they are up and running and will hopefully go a long way in improving the health and experiences of women.’
Areas with highest emergency admissions and death rates for lung conditions revealed
Analysis from Asthma + Lung UK has revealed that Blackpool, Liverpool and Inverclyde have some of the highest emergency admission and death rates for lung conditions in the UK (Asthma + Lung UK, 2023).
The charity analysed and ranked the latest rates of emergency hospital admissions and deaths from lung conditions including asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and respiratory infections for 216 local authorities throughout the UK.
North/south divide
The analysis found evidence of a north/south divide, with locations in the North-West of England making up over half (6/10) of the areas ranked highest for emergency admissions and deaths across the UK – Knowsley, Salford, Blackburn with Darwen, Liverpool, Blackpool and Manchester. Asthma + Lung UK suggest the reason for these high rates of emergency admission and deaths in some areas is likely due to health inequalities. Blackpool, Manchester, Knowsley and Liverpool are also areas where people experience higher levels of deprivation. York, Bracknell Forest, Barnet, Kensington and Chelsea, and West Sussex had the lowest rates of emergency admissions and deaths for lung conditions in the UK.
The link with air pollution
Asthma + Lung UK also highlight that some of the areas facing high death and emergency admission rates also have increased levels of air pollution. Levels of PM 2.5 in Blackpool (ranking at number 210) are four times higher than levels in the Shetland Islands in Scotland, which has one of the lowest emergency admission and death rates.
Sarah Woolnough, Chief Executive at Asthma + Lung UK, said: ‘It's appalling that people across the UK are struggling to breathe, are being rushed to hospital in an emergency and that so many are dying avoidably from their lung conditions. We know that people in more deprived areas are more likely to have worse lung health, often with no choice but to live in poorer quality housing, more polluted areas with higher smoking rates. We need to tackle the lung health lottery head on.’
Tackling inequality
Highlighting the role of government, Sarah Woolnough continued, ‘To do better, UK governments must address stark inequality in lung health and ensure the NHS has the resources to support its dedicated staff. People at risk of or living with lung conditions can't simply move to improve their lung health, it is health inequality we must battle.’