UK Health Security Agency and NHS leaflet titled 'COVID-19 vaccine: Your guide to booster vaccination'

Leaflet titled 'COVID-19 vaccine: Your guide to booster vaccination', for people aged 18 and over and those aged 16 and over who are at risk, from the UK Health Security Agency and the NHS, product code C21B40EN2 10M 1p DEC 2021 (APS). Version 1, UK, 2021

Booster vaccinations were most widely available in the UK in autumn/winter 2021, when the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) recommended them “to maintain protection against severe COVID-19 disease, specifically hospitalisation and deaths”. The booster programme was rolled out in priority order, much like the initial doses of the vaccine. By December 2021 it was available to all adults in the UK, 16- and 17-year-olds and 12 – 15 years olds who were at particular risk of COVID-19.

The increasing spread of the omicron variant of COVID-19 raised the importance and speed of the booster programme. Interestingly, the booster leaflets published in November 2021 don’t refer to variants, but later versions, published in December 2021 and later, mention the increased protection the booster offers against new variants of the virus.

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, huge amounts of public health information were produced and distributed in the UK. Most of this came from the UK Health Security Agency, which was known as Public Health England until April 2021. This public health information covered a vast range of topics and was frequently updated to reflect changing guidelines and research.