NHS’ National Booking Service opens for autumn COVID-19 boosters

From the 7th September, around four million people most vulnerable to COVID-19 will start to be invited to book in their COVID-19 booster vaccine as theNHS’ National Booking Service launches appointments for autumn boosters.

The National Booking Service went live this morning with frontline health and care workers, immunosuppressed people, and people aged over 75, able to book in for the first ever variant-targeted vaccine on the NHS.

The move which will see those eligible able to book appointments from 12 September, comes after the launch of autumn COVID-19 boosters in care homes.

3,100 sites are expected to be part of the rollout, including GP practices and community pharmacies, with new sites joining the programme. 80 hospital hubs will also join the latest campaign - delivering the latest COVID-19 vaccine to members of the public as well as their own staff, and administering the flu vaccine where possible.

St. John’s Church on London Road, Carlisle, CA1 2HA, will be an NHS Covid and Flu vaccination centre on Saturday 17^th September from 9am – 5pm. Please check online for further details and availability, and you can book online via the NHS Booking Service (link above) or call the site on: 07897 237828

Access to community-based treatments for COVID-19

The Department of Health and Social Care has publishedguidance on how to access COVID-19 treatments outside of hospital, including information on free prescriptions and lateral flow tests.

There are currently two ways for non-hospitalised patients to access treatments for COVID-19. The first is through the PANORAMIC national study, run by the University of Oxford, and the second is through targeted deployment of highest-risk patients.

The highest-risk cohort of patients are identified by a set of patient conditions that mean they would be at a higher risk of progression to severe disease, hospital admission or death due to COVID-19.

The R value and growth rate

The UK Health Security Agency has published the latest reproduction number (R) and growth rate of COVID-19.

The current R range for England is between 0.8 to 1.0, which means that, on average, every 10 people infected will infect between 8 and 10 other people. The latest growth rate between -4% and -2% meaning that the number of new infections is shrinking by between 2% and 4% every day.

These estimates represent the transmission of COVID-19 2 to 3 weeks ago due to the time delay between someone being infected, developing symptoms, and needing healthcare.

National flu and COVID-19 surveillance reports published

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has published thelatest national influenza and COVID-19 report, monitoring COVID-19 activity,seasonal flu and other seasonal respiratory illnesses.

Thelatest evidence shows that vaccine effectiveness against hospitalisation is similar for the BA.4/5 variants as it is for BA.2.