Wigan residents who have recently had Covid-19 are urged to get booster jab

An estimated 142,000 people in Greater Manchester caught Covid-19 over Christmas and New Year, many of whom did not get a chance to have their booster vaccination.

Now NHS staff are reminding people that they still need to get the booster dose as it provides stronger and longer-lasting immunity than from infection alone.

According to Greater Manchester's interim director of nursing Anita Rolfe, getting the booster vaccine "supercharges" protection against Covid-19 for longer, regardless of previous infection.

The latest data from the UK Health Security Agency shows shortly after getting a booster, you are 85 per cent less likely to end up in hospital than if you are unvaccinated.

And with 51,000 people in Greater Manchester now due to receive their booster (at least 91 days since their second vaccine dose and at least 28 days since recovery from Covid-19), the NHS is urging people to get jabbed.

Ms Rolfe said: “Quite simply, and regardless of previous infection, getting your Covid-19 vaccination remains the best thing you can do to protect yourself and people around you. People assume that being recovered from Covid-19 means they’ll have plenty of antibodies and therefore immunity at least for a few months.

“This may not be the case. If you have a mild infection with Covid-19, you’re probably going to get a mild immune response. Many people will have had Covid-19 but that’s not guaranteed to protect them, and certainly not as time goes on.

“The vaccines have been designed to provoke a really strong immune response and without all the damaging effect of having the infection. The benefits of vaccination are near immediate and then build up over a few weeks.

“A vaccination is a supercharged protection against Covid-19. We give the vaccine as one dose, a second dose and a booster dose so you’re getting three really strong pushes to the immune system. You don’t get that from mild infection with Covid-19, it’s the vaccine that gives you that strong protection.”

As the omicron variant arrived in the UK in late 2021, the booster was already being delivered to older and more vulnerable people. During December, the booster rollout was expanded, with around 76 per cent of eligible over-18s in Greater Manchester having received it to date.

Ms Rolfe added: “Despite hundreds of thousands of Covid-19 cases, the vaccine has been credited with preventing serious illness in the vast majority of people. That’s why we’re hearing so much about people on intensive care being unvaccinated.

“People often ask why they still got omicron after having the vaccine and the booster. While the vaccine doesn’t always stop infection altogether, it does prevent that transition from no symptoms or very mild symptoms to having serious illness and hospital admission. The vaccine stops those serious consequences.”

Details of vaccination centres in Wigan can be found at healthierwigan.nhs.uk/covid-19-vaccination-centres/

Alternatively, find a walk-in site at www.nhs.uk/grab-a-jab or book an appointment by calling 119.

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