The Covid-19 vaccination programme should be extended so people of any age can get a vaccine if they want one, an academic has said.
Professor Devi Sridhar, chairwoman of global public health at the University of Edinburgh, said that the vaccine programme should emulate the flu programme so people can get a jab privately should they wish.
At present Covid-19 jabs are not available to buy in the UK.
Only over 65s and people who are clinically at risk are able to get a vaccine through the official vaccination programme.
The vaccine programme for this winter is due to begin next week in England, after being brought forward due to fears over a new variant.
The variant, known as BA.2.86, has not been classified as a “variant of concern” but scientists have said that it carries a high number of mutations and the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) is watching it closely.
On the new variant, Prof Sridhar told Sky News: “It’s still a sub lineage of Omicron and so in that sense, we’re still in the Omicron age, but I think here what you’re seeing is its ability to reinfect those who have already had a previous version of Omicron as well as how transmissible it is, and so those are the concerns.
“But I would say that early studies are showing that it is not more severe in terms of its health impact, and also that it’s not having a higher hospitalisation rate, and those are the two things that we’re watching carefully in terms of future variants.
