If you go on the Scottish booking page, you can pretty much book an appointment for any time, even 10 minutes for now. When the ambulance waiting times are so awful already, it feels like this doesn't bode so well for winter.

England cases 5,550 (4,667 last Monday) - up 12.7% week on week
England deaths down 24.3% week on week
Patients admitted in England 781 (519 on the 12th)
Patients in hospital in England 5,142 (4,540 on the 14th)
Patients in ventilation beds 145 (140 on the 14th)
Vaccinated up to and including 21st September 2022:
First dose: 45,259,141
Second dose: 42,687,069
Booster: 33,574,571
The autumn boosters are running at around 200,000 per working day now.

This could be the bump from the Queen's funeral gatherings...

More likely the previous decline had bottomed out, and we'll go up again for a few weeks. Same as for the last 2 years or so!

There's some new variants doing the rounds and increasing their share of surveillance tests quite rapidly, if you can believe what some of the Twitter gossip says...
BF.7 and BQ.1 and BQ.1.1 I think

In the latest data which is a couple of weeks old, BA.5 is accounting for 88% of cases in England, BA.4 is just under 10% and other which could include new variants around 2.5%. Other has been above 1% since April. It is a bit early to be concerned about new variants. I think the change in weather and the move to indoor life with schools back is more significant at the moment.

And with unis going back too I suspect that numbers will rise a little.

I'm not surprised there's growth in case numbers. In my organisation of 30, around half have been off sick at some point this week. Half of those (so 7 or 8 I believe) have tested positive, the others have heavy colds but test negative. It's unlikely they spread it to each other as there were 4 days from their last office day to when symptoms started, so I'm led to believe immunity from Q1 2022 is starting to wane and reinfections are becoming more and more likely. Personally, I've not had cold symptoms and continue to test negative but have been exhausted all week, almost post-viral without having had a noticeable infection. Very odd.

Well I am doing my bit for King (that feels strange typing that now) and country tonight and having my booster/4th jab.

I got an SMS from the NHS saying "Our records show you're eligible to receive a further COVID-19 vaccination this autumn." I'm 52 and only underlying condition I have is high blood pressure, so I was a bit surprised to receive the SMS. When I went through to book an appointment though, it said I wasn't eligible. So now confused. Wonder if I wander up to one of the walk-in options near me and show the SMS if I could get one, or if they'd give me a no as well.

Nothing ventured, nothing gained...

Today's weekly data from the ONS survey. In the week ending 13-14 September 2022:

One in 70 people in England had Covid (last week one in 75)
One in 75 in Wales had Covid (last week one in 110)
One in 80 in Northern Ireland had Covid (last week one in 55)
One in 55 in Scotland had Covid (last week one in 45)

I am similar age, no specific underlying health condition, got both an email and SMS invite today, but also can't book. It does say in my email that you can just use invite message if you go to a walk in centre.

I am just a few years older but remain unwanted so far. Not that I will be rushing having just recovered.

If you are over 50 you are entitled to the Autumn 2022 Booster campaign - and don't forget your influenza jab as well or at a different time if you prefer.

However the Autumn Booster is ranked, in theory, by age so that there is a surge of 50 year olds on day 1, so I think we are still doing mid 60s generally, depending on your part of the country. Broadly speaking most places, and in particular pharmacists, will do anyone who is eligible, rather than being strict about the ranking. So if you want to have a jab and over 50 you should be able to get one. Plus those under 50 who are more vulnerable, and they are ranked higher than a 50 year old in reasonable health.

Generally it's best to get vaccinated rather than not get vaccinated, but if you had a confirmed Covid case 3 months ago, or a strong suspicion of one, you should leave it until at least 3 months after. Note also that the vaccine seems to be reasonably effective in preventing infection for a few months (3 to 6 months depending on various factors) so you may want to project forward to what's important in your life and that may been going for your vaccine earlier or later. And you may think cases will rise over say January / February, so you may want to factor that in to your timing. Obviously if in doubt get the jab, but in some cases it may be worth delaying it a month or two.

Thanks for this. I am pretty sure I had it in July (though never tested positive, but 2 others in the group of six of us sharing an AirBnB in Manchester did test positive and I felt rough as guts). So I'll probably hold off until later in the autumn.