People in the Midlands who are eligible for the COVID-19 booster vaccine are being urged to stay safe and book a jab as soon as possible. The booster vaccine is offered to those eligible who had their second dose of the COVID vaccination six months ago as protection will have deteriorated.

Appointments can be booked quickly and conveniently at www.nhs.uk/book-covid-booster. People that can’t go online can book by phoning 119.

The NHS kicked off the booster programme on 16 September, within two days of updated advice from the independent Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI). Over 765,000 booster doses have been given so far in the Midlands.

Six million people have already been invited by text, email and letter encouraging them to book online through the national booking service.

The NHS will be in touch to notify eligible people when they are due their booster jab at least six months – that’s a minimum of 182 days – after their second vaccination.

Alison Tonge, the NHS England and NHS Improvement director responsible for overseeing the vaccination programme across the Midlands, said:

“Everyone eligible for a COVID booster vaccine should not delay in getting their jab as soon as they can. We know that protection from the vaccine does drop over time, and the booster vaccination will give people at greatest risk important extra protection.”

Those who are eligible for a booster at least six months after their second dose include:

• those living in residential care homes for older adults
• all adults aged 50 years or over
• frontline health and social care workers
• all those aged 16 to 49 years with underlying health conditions that put them at higher risk of severe COVID-19 (as set out in the green book), and adult carers
• adult household contacts of immunosuppressed individuals.
• Recently, the NHS encouraged pregnant women to get the COVID-19 vaccine as data showed that nearly 1 in 5 of the most critically ill COVID patients were unvaccinated pregnant women.