(Reuters) – NHS England has invited people aged 56 to 59 to discuss COVID-19 vaccinations in the coming week, with letters to 850,000 people in that age group on Saturday at the door and another 850,000 due to land Monday.
“The latest invitations were sent after more than eight out of ten people aged 65 to 69 accepted the offer of a jab,” the National Health Service said in an email statement Sunday.
“NHS staff have vaccinated more than 18 million people in England, meaning more than one-third of the adult population has already received the life-saving blow.”
Britain’s medical regulator said on Thursday it would detect vaccinations for coronavirus variants, adding that manufacturers of already authorized shots did not need new long-term clinical trials to make their custom vaccinations work.
There are concerns that some variants, such as those first found in South Africa and Brazil, may reduce the effectiveness of first-generation COVID-19 vaccines, and that manufacturers want to adapt their shots.
The accelerated process is based on those used annually for seasonal flu vaccines, the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) said, and would be based on strong evidence that the shots create an immune response, rather than complete clinical trials.
AstraZeneca PLC, Pfizer Inc and Moderna Inc – manufacturers of the three vaccines approved by the MHRA so far – have all said they plan to adapt their shots to meet these variants.
Britain has so far offered shots made by AstraZeneca and Pfizer.
Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Bengaluru; Edited by Christopher Cushing