LONDON (REUTERS) - British officials on Tuesday (Sept 14) recommended that Covid-19 vaccine boosters be given to all vulnerable people and those aged over 50 six months after their second dose, paving the way for a broad revaccination programme this winter.

       Britain's Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) said its preference was that the Pfizer vaccine was used for the booster dose, or alternatively a half-dose of a Moderna shot.

       The chair of Britain’s vaccine group said it was unclear whether or not there would be a recurrent programme of Covid-19 vaccine boosters every six months .

       “The advice today does not imply that there will be a recurrent programme of booster doses every six months,” said Professor Lim Wei Shen, chair for Covid-19 immunisation on the JCVI.

       “I don’t think I can say very much about the future booster programmes because we just don’t have the data."

       Separately, vaccines have saved 112,000 lives and averted 24 million cases of Covid-19 in the United Kingdom, England's Deputy Chief Medical Officer Jonathan Van-Tam said on Tuesday.

       "Our latest estimates are that since we began deploying these vaccines, they've probably averted in the region of 24 million cases of Covid-29 in the UK and 112,000 deaths - so incredibly successful to date and remains so," Van-Tam said.

       "We're not past the pandemic - we're in an active phase still. We know this winter could quite possibly be bumpy at times."

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