This information is for the public.

Frontline health and care workers will get their information from their employers.

From Monday 21 February:

staff and students in most education and childcare settings no longer have to test twice weekly

From Thursday 24 February:

people with Covid will no longer be legally required to self-isolate
guidance will remain in place for those who test positive to stay at home and avoid contact with others for at least five full days
self-isolation support payments of £500 for those on low incomes will no longer be available
routine contact tracing will end - people in contact with someone with Covid will no longer be advised to self-isolate or take daily tests
workers will no longer be required to tell their employer if they need to self-isolate

From Friday 1 April:

Covid tests will no longer be free for most people
the use of Covid passports will no longer be recommend, except for international travel
employers will no longer have to explicitly consider Covid in their health and safety risk assessments

The plan Boris Johnson has announced to end all legal restrictions is for England only. Restrictions remain in place in other parts of the UK.

The full ‘Living with Covid’ plan can be read here.

Vaccination remains our best form of defence so please ensure you have had your vaccines and booster.

Booster Jabs

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) advice have said that an additional booster dose should be offered to all adults over-75 and the most vulnerable over-12s this spring.

Many of the oldest received their latest vaccine back in the autumn and this extra dose will help top up protection against severe Covid-19.

Up until now, only people with severely weakened immune systems had been eligible for a fourth dose - three doses plus a booster.

Those now being offered a second booster this spring, to be administered six months after their previous dose, are:

adults aged 75 years and over
residents in a care home for older adults
individuals aged 12 years and over who are immunosuppressed.

Adults will be offered a Pfizer or Moderna vaccine while children aged 12-18 will receive Pfizer.

Around 7.2 million people in the UK aged over 75, who have already had their primary course of Covid vaccines, will be eligible for the extra spring booster.

Another half a million people who are immunosuppressed will also be eligible for the additional booster.

The JCVI said vaccinating these groups was a "precautionary" move and did not mean there was any current danger to their health but because people in these groups are at higher risk from Covid-19, have weaker immune systems than other people and were last vaccinated in September of October 2021, their protection from vaccines might be waning more quickly.

An autumn booster programme, aimed at a wider group of people, is also planned.

Vaccinations for 5-11 year olds

Last week the government followed Wales and Scotland by announcing that they had accepted the advice from the JCVI and that vaccinations would be made available for all not-at-risk 5-11 year olds. The offer is ‘non-urgent’ and will be made to all children in this cohort in April.

Planning is underway to deliver this locally and further details will be available on our website in due course.

For 12-15 year olds, vaccination is available – see our website for details of booked appointments and walk-ins for this cohort. Currently 5-11 year olds who are clinically vulnerable or live in a household with someone who is CEV can only walk in at specific times and will require a letter from the GP or hospital consultant identifying them as such.

https://www.sthelensccg.nhs.uk/covid-19-information/covid-19-vaccine-walk-in-sessions/