Brits will have to pay for Covid vaccines despite spread of new variants, here's how much it could cost

New variants of Covid-19 have emerged recently, including the Eris and the BA.X variant, which has been tracked in Denmark and Israel and has scientists calling for us to wear masks again. Experts fear a new surge of cases could potentially lead to another health crisis.

So far, vaccines have been available for free in the UK through the NHS. The system has worked by calling people to get their jabs as and when their age group has been eligible.

However, despite the spread of the new Eris variant, which the World Health Organisation recently named a ‘variant of interest’, 12 million fewer people will be given booster vaccines on the NHS this winter.

This decrease from last year’s figures is due to the minimum age being bumped up from 50 to 65. Many are shocked by this as people fear the spread of this new variant will only get worse between now and the colder months as kids go back to school.

When will vaccines be available for private sale?

The UK Health Security Agency has okayed the private sale of Covid-19 vaccines. The jabs are expected to become available next year, in 2024. Inews reports that this would happen around springtime at the earliest. Both of the government’s suppliers, Moderna and Pfizer, have stated that the NHS remains their priority. However, Moderna has said it is ‘exploring the possibility and viability’ of also supplying private jabs.

Read more: Long Covid can turn this part of your body blue

How would it work?

This move would allow those who want the extra protection from Covid-19 but are not eligible to get vaccinated on the NHS to do so privately. People would get access to vaccines by going to a pharmacy or private clinic, as they do for the flu jab. Professor Adam Finn of the University of Bristol, a member of the UK’s Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, sees another benefit to this scheme:

Public policy, correctly in my opinion, in the UK is to offer vaccines to those who most need them without any compulsion. That sorts things out for people who are at the ‘I don’t want [a] vaccine’ end of the spectrum.

How much will it cost?

However, Imperial College London Professor Danny Altmann, has pointed out that putting a price on protection against Covid-19 will only widen the gap between different socioeconomic groups and how Covid-19 affects them:

Covid and long Covidvulnerability has been massively skewed to the most socioeconomically deprived – for example, those in jobs least compatible with working from home or taking time off when infected. By outsourcing vaccines to private medicine, we exacerbate this divide.

The price of the private vaccine is yet to be announced, but scientists have warned Brits that it is likely to cost more than the flu jab, which usually costs around £15-20.

Read more:

⋙ New Eris Covid variant is fast-spreading across the UK, find out how badly your town is affected

⋙ Covid-19: Is the new Eris variant dangerous?

Sources used:

Inews: Covid vaccines may go on sale in the UK privately for the first time in 2024

The Guardian: Covid booster jabs to be approved for sale to UK public