Booster vaccines now available for over 40s

People aged between 40 and 49 can now book their Covid booster jabs to make sure they are protected this winter.

The NHS is currently offering Covid booster jabs to eligible people – and this now includes people aged over 40 – as long as it has been 6 months since your second vaccine dose.

You don’t need an appointment – walk-ins are now available at vaccine sites across Blackburn with Darwen as long as it has been six months since you had your second Covid vaccine, you can go and get your booster jab. This includes the vaccine hub at Blackburn Cathedral.

You can also now make your booster appointment 5 months after your second jab – as long as it has been 6 months after your second vaccine when the appointment takes place.

You may have already received a text or a letter from the NHS offering you a Covid booster dose – but you don’t need to wait for this if you believe you’re eligible.

Covid booster vaccines are available to:

• those living in residential care homes for older adults
• all adults aged 50 years or over
• all adults aged 40 to 49 if it has been 6 months since your second dose
• frontline health and social care workers
• all those aged 16 to 49 years with underlying health conditions that put them at higher risk of severe COVID-19 and adult carers
• adult household contacts of immunosuppressed individuals.

Dominic Harrison, Director of Public Health for Blackburn with Darwen, said:

This move to the next eligible group for the booster vaccinations is really welcome news and I would like to encourage anyone aged between 40 and 49 who can receive the booster to book their slot when they can.

Vaccination is our best way of protecting ourselves and others, and as there is strong evidence that any immunity from the second dose will start to wane after a time, it is a really good idea to get the booster and top this up.

The booster doses are a really important way of keeping this virus under better control for the long term and will protect people, especially the most vulnerable, through the winter months.”

Councillor Mohammed Khan, Leader of Blackburn with Darwen Council, said:

It is really important to keep ourselves as protected as possible during this winter, and getting a top-up vaccine is the best way to protect yourself and your loved ones from Covid-19. If you are eligible to get the booster, please do, to help yourselves, people you love, and to help protect our health service this winter.”

If you would prefer to make an appointment you can go to www.nhs.uk/covid-vaccination or call 119.

Anyone who has recently had a positive Covid-19 test should wait four weeks from the date you had the test before getting your booster.