❦ Chris Whitty, from the Covid Inquiry:

“The one situation... that you would ever aim to achieve herd immunity is by vaccination. That is the only situation that is a rational policy response.”

And yet... the UK is no longer offering vaccines to the vast majority of its working-age population.

According to the JCVI member Dr Adam Finn, the UK’s strategy going forward is that:

“... most under 65’s will now end up boosting their immunity not through vaccination, but through catching Covid many times.”

➲ (24 Sep 2023 ~ BBC) What you need to know about Covid as new variant rises ➤

Let me translate:

The stated aim is to get infected over and over and over again... to protect against being infected over and over and over again!

How does this make any sense at all?

The government has decided that it is not good “value for money” to actually give the boosters out – even for the age groups who have already had Covid vaccine doses purchased for them (for example, the 50-65 year olds) – so millions of doses [8.5 million] are now destined to be binned, rather than being used.

➲ ‘COVID VACCINE: COST EFFECTIVENESS ASSESSMENT.

For the first time ever, the UK government has used a ‘bespoke, non-standard cost-effectiveness assessment’ to decide who would be eligible for the Covid booster this Autumn. In this thread, I explore how this assessment was undertaken…’ ➤

Meanwhile, in many other countries, the booster is open to anyone who wants it.

No strict eligibility criteria. Just step forward and get protected.

Let’s take a look at a few:

1. THE USA: Covid booster available to EVERYONE aged 6 months and older.

The CDC (USA’s Centers for Disease Control) recommends that everyone ages 6 months and upwards get the updated COVID-19 booster to protect against serious illness.

The new vaccine targets the most common circulating variants, and should be available later this week. The full details are here ➤.

2. CANADA: Covid booster available to EVERYONE aged 6 months and older. Full details are here ➤.

3. FRANCE: Covid booster available to EVERYONE. Full details are here ➤.

4. BELGIUM: Covid booster available to EVERYONE. Full details are here ➤.

5. JAPAN: Covid booster available to EVERYONE aged 6 months and older. Full details are here ➤.

Why is the UK falling so far out of step with so many other countries on their Covid vaccine strategy?

How can they justify binning millions of purchased vaccine doses when there are many people who would gladly take them?

➲ ‘So what’s going to happen to the millions of purchased doses which now won’t be used?

Well, here’s the real kicker... it seems they’re destined for the bin. A number of alternative uses have been considered, but the conclusion is:

“THESE DOSES HAVE NO FEASIBLE ALTERNATIVE USE”.’ ➤

If the UK government won’t fund deployment of the Covid jab to EVERYONE (as so many other countries do), then why isn’t there at least an option to buy it privately?

This model already exists with the flu jab – why is there not the same option for Covid?

© 2023 Cat in the Hat ➲

📖 (26 May 2023 / Updated 5 Oct 2023 ~ GOV.UK: JCVI / Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation) JCVI statement on the COVID-19 vaccination programme for autumn 2023, 26 May 2023 Updated 5 October 2023 ➤

📖 [PDF] (June 2023 ~ GOV.UK) COVID-19 autumn 2023 booster programme ➤