Now you see it, now you don’t

following the intricacies of the UK covid vaccine recommendations

Dr Ros Jones

While in the US, the new team at the HHS are struggling to get the mRNA covid vaccines withdrawn, in the UK they have been just quietly disappearing. The UKHSA’s Green Book on Immunisation is full of claims of safety and efficacy, with no serious discussion of the vast number of adverse events recorded nor any mention of the immune damage occurring after repeated doses or the negative efficacy seen within a few weeks. But at the same time, it does quietly chart the removal of these products for most of the population.

Starting with the AstraZeneca viral-vector DNA product, lauded as a triumph of British science and endeavour, it was the Scandinavians who first reported on the severe clotting issues occurring particularly in younger people and leading to major strokes or even fatalities. After one death in Denmark, they suspended AZ, but here in the UK, it continued in use for several months before just quietly disappearing. Those who had received two doses of AZ in early 2021 were surprised it wasn’t available by the time they attended for a booster later in the year. “We’ve got Pfizer in the clinic today” was the response to any questions.

Turning to Pfizer and Moderna mRNA vaccines, these quickly made up the shortfall from the disappearing AZ. In July 2021, a single dose of Pfizer was recommended for healthy 16- and 17-year-olds and by September this had extended down to 12-15s. In September 2021, boosters were recommended for all over 50s and for children with specified comorbidities. By November 2021, the booster programme had been widened to all >18s plus a second dose for healthy 12-17s. Also eligible for a booster were children living in a household with an immuno-compromised family member - I am still waiting for someone to explain the ethics of that, especially given it didn’t even work to prevent infection and transmission.

Spring 2022 saw the introduction of a “non-urgent offer” of Pfizer for 5-11s - this offer accompanied by the most extraordinary sentence: “As Omicron infection is particularly mild, vaccine induced protection against mild Omicron infection is short lived, and almost all children in this age group have been infected with COVID-19, JCVI also recommended that delivery of paediatric non-COVID-19 immunisation programmes should be a higher priority.”

From Autumn 2022, there has a steady decline in eligibility, with boosters offered to healthy over 50s (compared to >18s in 2021), all frontline health and social care staff and <50s with comorbidities including pregnancy.

Autumn 2023 saw further cuts. “By late 2022, it was estimated that most older children and adults in the UK had SARSCoV-2 antibodies, either from natural infection or vaccination or both (https://www.gov.uk/ government/publications/covid-19-vaccine-weekly-surveillance-reports). Those who have naturally acquired immunity are expected to generate as good an immune response to a single dose of vaccine than naive individuals given two doses. Therefore, from autumn 2023, JCVI is advising that all UK approved COVID-19 vaccines may be offered to those aged 5 years and over as a single vaccine dose.” I wonder if anyone in the JCVI covid vaccine subcommittee can see how totally ludicrous this statement is. First off they say that this state of enhanced immunity existed ‘by late 2022’ so why were they still recommending two doses for a further year? Secondly, it looks like the natural immunity, which was briefly accepted as a ’good thing’ in early 2020 before being totally rubbished, was now back in favour. The human immune system has been honed over millennia, so it is quite unlikely that it stopped working in 2020 and 2021, necessitating lockdowns and novel genetic vaccines, only to recover during 2022. Sadly evidence, if that is still a thing, suggests that for those who have accepted multiple doses, their immune function has been significantly altered. Boosters in autumn 2023 were for healthy >65s plus those with comorbidities, plus frontline health and social care staff and over 5s with an immunocompromised household member.

By autumn 2024, boosters were now for healthy over 65s plus those with the comorbidities.You had to be over 12 to be allowed to ‘protect your granny’. Front line health and social care staff had been dropped from the booster schedule, presumably because of the embarrassingly low uptake the previous year, although confusingly it was still being pushed by NHS England with even lower uptake than 2023.

But for autumn 2025, it has just been announced that the booster will only be available to over 75s and those with immunodeficiency. Thus covid shots in pregnancy have been quietly dropped, at a time when more evidence is appearing about mid-trimester losses and falling birth rates.

The only age group who have been in every spring and autumn booster are the over 75s, now on their 10th dose - some of us are getting a bit bored about the endless reminders to have another dose of a product we had rejected four years ago.

Vaccine mandates still exist in many countries, see world map here, but so far have never been feature in the UK. Not so happy in Singapore, where refusal of a government mandated vaccination is now an imprisonable offence.