Dear all,
I’m getting in touch from DHSC to ask for your support with communicating the end of the evergreen primary course offer and the on-going spring booster programme.
Evergreen Offer Ending
As you know, the Secretary of State announced that the evergreen offer of a first and second dose of Covid vaccine for those at lower risk of severe illness will end on 30 June 2023, in line with the close of this year’s spring booster programme.
Around 40 million adults across England have already come forward for both doses, but over 10.2 million people remain completely unvaccinated against Covid-19, with a further 1.5 million having received their first dose but not their second.
Just nine weeks remain for those at lower risk of severe Covid to come forward for their jab. This gives people enough time to get both doses before the offer ends on 30 June 2023. After this date, there is no alternative means, at present, to access these vaccinations.
For people aged 18 and over, there is an 8-week interval requirement between receiving a first and second dose of Covid vaccine, so the first dose appointment would need to be arranged on or before 5 May 2023. Appointments can be booked online, by calling 119, or people can visit one of the hundreds of walk-in vaccination sites open across the country.
Spring Booster Programme
Building on the success of autumn and spring booster programmes, a seasonal, targeted vaccination offer will remain open for those most at risk. Bookings for the spring booster vaccination are currently still open to all eligible groups including those aged 75 and over, as well as those aged 5 years and over with weakened immune systems. I know many of you have supported with promoting this content to your audiences already. Thank you for your continued support.
How you can help?
- Sharing information and content about the end of the primary course offer to encourage the unvaccinated to come forward for their jab, while they still can.
- Sharing information about the spring booster programme to reach eligible groups via available channels – such as social media, newsletters, interviews to support the flow of credible information.
- Engaging with your networks to reinforce the importance of taking up offers of the COVID-19 vaccine and to encourage the cascading of messages to their networks.
Resources:
- DHSC Social Content - Evergreen
- Social Content – Spring Booster
- Campaign Resource Centre – Vaccine Assets: COVID 19 Vaccinations | Campaigns | Campaign Resource Centre (dhsc.gov.uk)
We are keen to encourage anyone who is unvaccinated to come forward for their first dose and those who are eligible for the spring booster to come forward to strengthen their protection. We would very much appreciate any support you can offer with further communicating with your audiences to help encourage uptake of the vaccine. If you are able to support communications on this, I would be very grateful if you could share an update on your activity with me.
Please also feel free to get in touch if you require any additional resources. I will of course continue to share updates as they become available.
Kind regards,
Malika Azzous
Senior External Affairs Manager | Communications
Department of Health and Social Care