COVID-19 Autumn Booster Information HUB

GPNI Clinical Update: Winter Flu and Autumn COVID-19 Booster

Link for CPD Certificate and Feedback

The JCVI advised that for the 2023 autumn programme, the following groups should be offered a COVID-19 booster vaccine:

  • All residents and staff in a care home
  • All adults aged 65 and over
  • Persons aged 6 months to 64 years in a clinical risk group (as defined inchapters 3 and 4 of the COVID-19 chapter of the Green Book)
  • Frontline health and social care workers
  • Persons aged 12 to 64 years who are household contacts of people with immunosuppression (as defined in the Green Book).

Persons aged 16 to 64 years who are carers (as defined in the Green Book)

Unlike in previous years, please note healthy individuals aged 50 to 64 years of age are NOT eligible for a COVID-19 booster dose, unless they fall into one of the categories mentioned above.

General Practitioners Vaccination Responsibilities

GPs are being asked to invite for vaccination:

  1. All eligible patients aged 65 or older (i.e. those born before 31 March 1959)
  2. Patients aged 16 to 64 in clinical at risk groups
  3. Anyone aged 16-64 who is a known carer
  4. Issue a notification to their immunosuppressed patients advising them that their household contacts aged 12 to 64 years are eligible for vaccination – the notification will confirm eligibility.
  5. Issue a notification to their patients aged 5 to 15 years in clinical risk groups advising they may be eligible for vaccination and they can attend a Trust clinic to receive the vaccine.

GPs can also vaccinate their own frontline staff.

GPs should try and vaccinate their eligible patients, but particularly those aged 75 years and over, by 31st October.

GPs are also asked to identify their housebound patients and notify Trust vaccination teams by the end of September, if possible, to ensure Trusts can facilitate vaccinations of all housebound patients by the end of October, in line with the latest UKHSA advice.

Community Pharmacies Vaccination Responsbilities

Community pharmacies will be responsible for the vaccination of all care home residents and staff, including mop-up visits. As a high priority patient group care homes resident should be vaccinated early in the programme and community pharmacies should aim to complete all care home vaccinations by 31st October 2023. Many care homes will already have effective medicines management arrangements with community pharmacies and it is anticipated that these existing partnerships will continue through the offer of COVID-19 vaccination to care homes.

For care homes operated by HSC Trusts, Trusts are asked to ensure that local arrangements are made with community pharmacies offering the COVID-19 vaccination service.

In addition, community pharmacies can vaccinate anyone

  1. Aged 65 years or older,
  2. Those under 65 who are clinically at risk – based on evidence supplied by the patient such as a GP letter, hospital letter or medication etc.
  3. Immunosuppressed patients and their household contacts aged 18 to 64 years who provide evidence of eligibility by way of correspondence from their GP,
  4. Frontline health and social care staff, (as set out in the Green Book definition)
  5. Pregnant women,
  6. Carers who seek vaccination (as set out in the Green Book definition).
Trust Vaccination Responsibilities

Trusts are therefore asked to vaccinate:

  • Frontline Health and Social Care Workers, as defined in chapter 14A of the Green Book: COVID-19 greenbook chapter 14a (publishing.service.gov.uk) ;
  • Housebound patients (via District Nursing Teams and based on referral from GP);
  • Pregnant women via maternity services;
  • Those aged 5 – 15 years of age identified in clinical at risk groups
  • Identify and vaccinate those aged 6 months to 4 years in clinical at risk groups.
  • Those aged 12-15 identified as household contacts of the immunosuppressed.
  • Alternative offer for those aged 65 and over
  • Alternative offer for those aged 65 and over in areas where GPs are not participating in the programme.
  • Offer of a non-mRNA vaccination when mRNA COVID-19 vaccines are not considered clinically suitable.

    Eligible individuals aged between 5 and 11 years of age can continue to receive the Pfizer-BioNTech mRNA (Comirnaty) bivalent Original/Omicron BA.4-5 vaccine paediatric formulation until the Pfizer-BioNTech mRNA monovalent XBB vaccine paediatric formulation becomes available.

    Infants aged 0 to 4 years of age attending Trust clinics for a vaccine during the autumn programme can continue to receive the Pfizer-BioNTech mRNA (Comirnaty) bivalent Original/Omicron BA.4-5 vaccine infant formulation until the Pfizer-BioNTech mRNA monovalent XBB vaccine infant formulation becomes available.

    Trusts should arrange specific allergy clinics for those individuals who it is deemed an mRNA vaccine is not clinically suitable. In these instances, Sanofi/GSK AS03-adjuvanted monovalent beta variant (VidPrevtyn Beta) booster vaccine is a suitable alternative for adults aged 18 years and over.

Anaphylaxis Management

COVID-19 Vaccination (Green Book- Ch14a)

Click Here

Influenza: the green book, chapter 19

Click Here

Autumn Booster Vaccine Doses

The JCVI have advised that the following vaccines are suitable for boosting irrespective of any previous vaccine doses: 

Adults aged 75 years and over

  • Full 0.3ml booster dose of bivalent (15/15 micrograms) Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine Comirnaty® Original/Omicron BA.4-5 or monovalent Comirnaty® Omicron XBB.1.5, subject to availability
  • Full 0.5ml dose of the bivalent (25/25 micrograms) Moderna COVID-19 vaccine Spikevax® bivalent original/Omicron BA.4-5 or monovalent Spikevax® XBB1.5, subject to regulatory approval
  • Full 0.5ml booster dose of Sanofi Pasteur vaccine VidPrevtyn Beta ®

Adults aged 18 – 74 years (including pregnant women*)   

  • Full 0.3ml booster dose of bivalent (15/15 micrograms) Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine Comirnaty® Original/Omicron BA.4-5 or monovalent Comirnaty® Omicron XBB.1.5, subject to availability
  • Full 0.5ml dose of the bivalent (25/25 micrograms) Moderna COVID-19 vaccine Spikevax® bivalent original/Omicron BA.4-5 or monovalent Spikevax® XBB1.5, subject to regulatory approval

When mRNA vaccines are not considered clinically suitable, Sanofi Pasteur (VidPrevtynBeta®) vaccine is a suitable alternative for those aged 18 years and over.

COVID-19 vaccine type 2023/24 – Transition from BA.4.5 to XBB.1.5

Pharmacological Information

Training

  • All vaccinators must be registered health care professionals. Health care assistants (HCAs) are not included in Patient Group Directives (PGDs) and there is no National Vaccination Protocols available for this spring booster programme. The PGDs will be available on the primary care intranet, pharmacy section.
  • All vaccinators should have competency assessed any training needs identified should be addressed. The COVID-19 vaccinator competency assessment tool is a useful way to complete and record these assessments.
  • The PHA/DOH have also produced training materials. E-learning for health has a range of modules on general vaccination and specific modules for each vaccine Covid vaccination.
  • The Clinical Education Centre have anaphylaxis e-learning and vaccination taught sessions for vaccinators.

Further Operational Notes

Change to Primary Course vaccination

From autumn 2023, JVCI, additionally advises that primary course COVID-19 vaccination should consist of a single dose of COVID-19 vaccine. Eligibility for the offer of primary vaccination will be the same as for autumn 2023 booster vaccination. Further details regarding exceptions to this advice for single dose primary course vaccination, such as for those who are immunosuppressed, or the vaccine to be used, will be set out in the COVID-19 chapter of the Green

COVID-19 vaccines available in 2023/24

Following a review of vaccine products which will be available for use in the autumn booster programme subject to regulatory approval, in their updated statement of 7th July JCVI statement, (published on 30th August), JCVI advised the principles below for vaccine deployments, it should be noted implementation of this advice now has to take into account the latest UKHSA advice regarding an accelerated programme.

The latest available COVID-19 vaccines, updated to a monovalent XBB- lineage, will be the preferred vaccine for the autumn 2023 programme.

As monovalent XBB vaccines will only become available from early October onwards, subject to regulatory approval, as mentioned in paragraphs 3 and 4 above, the programme will begin from 18th September and initially use bivalent BA.4-5 vaccine for all eligible groups, until the XBB vaccines become available

These latest vaccines should be prioritised for use in persons at higher risk of severe COVID-19, that is adults aged 75 and over, residents in a care homes and individuals who are immunosuppressed.

By the time the XBB vaccines become available we expect there to be sufficient quantities to enable the programme to switch to XBB type vaccine for all eligible groups rather than the bivalent Original/ Omicron BA.4-5 COVID-19 vaccines.

The bivalent Original/ Omicron BA.4-5 mRNA COVID-19 vaccines (Comirnaty and Spikevax) are considered appropriate for younger age groups and other eligible groups (i.e those aged 74 years and under who are not a resident in a care home or immunosuppressed).

These vaccines and the AS03 adjuvanted monovalent beta-variant vaccine (VidPrevtyn Beta) used in the spring 2023 booster programme are also suitable for use in persons aged 75 years and over, if necessary.

More details on vaccine products for the autumn 2023 booster programme can be seen in chapter 14a of the Green Book https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-the-green-book- chapter-14a

All of the available boosters provide good protection against severe illness from COVID-19. Timeliness of vaccination is more important than the type of booster vaccine used. The key priority of the autumn programme should be for eligible individuals to be offered a booster vaccine dose to increase their immunity against severe COVID-19 (hospitalisation and death) ahead of winter 2023/24.

Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech have both sought regulatory approval from the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) and the European Medicines Agency (EMA) for their mRNA monovalent XBB vaccines. Subject to regulatory approval, supplies of these vaccines may be available to order from Movianto in the normal way, by early October but a further communication will be issued in due course to confirm this.

By using this website You agree by the website terms & disclaimer