Should Covid booster jabs be rolled out to the over-40s?

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation has recommended that Covid booster jabs be offered to people in their forties, after they became available to the over-fifties earlier this year. But, as recently as August, the World Health Organisation opposed booster jabs. It said in a statement:

‘In the context of ongoing global vaccine supply constraints, administration of booster doses will exacerbate inequities by driving up demand and consuming scarce supply.’

What we can’t really judge on existing evidence is how vital booster jabs are, or could become, in keeping Covid under control

And in September Dr Mike Ryan, the WHO’s executive director in charge of the Covid response likened booster jabs to giving two life jackets to some of the passengers on the Titanic. In the same month, Professor Dame Sarah Gilbert, part of the team which developed the AstraZeneca vaccine, made a similar point, saying that immunity was lasting well and booster doses were not needed for everyone.