Thanks, that is extremely enlightening.

There is no paperwork going around for this, and there isn't much evidence at this point that it will do much good. However some SAGE members have suggested the idea and I have long felt that there would be some pressure to offer this. After all what would you think if you were 49.9 years old? (Actually answer is that on your 50th birthday you become qualified for the booster).. After all children under 18 who live with the immuno suppressed can have dose 1, dose 2 and boosters, whereas other children only get the one primary dose. So I suspect there will be pressure to offer it to the under 50s if they want to have it on an informed consent basis, so minus the hectoring / nudging. However the bigger pressure I suspect will be on whether we now give a second dose to 12 to 17.75 year olds and/or whether we're going down the 5 to 11 year olds route. This entire paragraph is conjecture so don't take it too seriously.

Speaking of boosters, am I correct in thinking the original group 6 will get called for them in time? I got called for a flu jab for the first time last week, so I'm hoping so.

Yes. As soon as you are 182 days past dose 2, and you are in the following list OR are a carer of someone older / ill or live with someone eligible for dose 3 primary (immuno suppressed) - then you can get a booster:

Far from meaning much, but according to The Times on Sunday: “Javid is also preparing to roll out booster jabs to the under-50s after Christmas, although they have yet to be approved by experts on the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI).”

Thanks CWS, looks like I should get an invite then towards the end of next month. Actually when I will be on holiday, so unless I can get it early I'll get it mid December (I expect like before a bit longer might be better anyway?).

I was offered my booster 3 weeks before the six month time and will get it one week before the 6th month anniversary.

re boosters, it has been interesting here in italy as i have had to explain that my parents (US, already had booster) are fully vaccinated with the initial two doses as in italy they fixate only on the last dose listed on their CDC cards as when we first arrived their booster was not more than 14 days ago when really they completed both initial doses back in march.

so thats fun.

but not as frustrating as in amsterdam where we had to get tested each day to get a QR code to enter restaurants...or for one scottish couple, arguing with a restaurant host to explain that scotland is indeed part of the UK.

Thanks CWS. Time will tell obviously. I know that many countries around the world are doing it, so just wondering what implications that has for us in the UK when other countries (Austria as an example) have a time limit on how long the 2 doses last, or other countries may require a 3rd jab at Dose 2+6 months to be recognized at "fully jabbed".

i just presume i'm unlucky. oddly on my last "ping" i was contacted, but my parents were not even though we were on the same flight LHR-JTR last week and sitting in 1C/D/F respectively. so you may be correct at least on my last ping that i am part of a larger statistic perhaps because it would be odd that only i was contacted out of our group of 3 sitting together. well, presuming covid can jump across an aisle.

Prepare to have loads of issues abroad, as those under 18 are currently finding when travelling (eg to Germany).... Raffles from HeadForPoints can't currently send his kids to see their German grandparents without quarantine, because the UK won't give them a 2nd jab but Germany won't treat our single jab in teenagers as sufficient for avoiding quarantine!

I have a similar problem with friends from France who want to visit London. They've had Covid in March this year, and thus under French rules only one jab in July. Now they can't visit the UK without quarantine even though they have a valid Pass Sanitaire in France and are considered fully vaccinated there.

If that is deemed a complete course of doses in accordance with the product characteristics approved as part of the marketing authorisation by the EMA for an authorised vaccine, then the exemption applies.

If it isn't deemed as such, then frankly they have not been fully vaccinated regardless of what pass France is issuing to them, and they need to get the full course.

That may well be the case but it's quite harsh in the circumstances, given that a) individuals have to follow their own country's rules, b) that the scientific evidence shows that the French (and other countries' protocols on this are super-effective, and more so than a regular double dose, and c) that the UK doesn't follow the approved dosing regimen, by delaying the second dose for so long.

The situation highlights how all these rules which, understandably, have been hobbled together in a hurry and in a world where nobody is speaking to each other, will need to stabilise and evolve. And nobody yet is talking about expiration dates of the original vaccine doses and of the booster. If the WHO has any oomph left in it, it should start developing guidelines on these matters, to allow countries to reference the WHO's guidelines in there rules, and internally to operate within them.

Realistically they presumably have the EU DCC, and realistically for the UK that is good enough.