Protect Clinically Vulnerable People #KeepCovidBoosters
From autumn 2025 the NHS Covid booster is being withdrawn from millions of people at higher risk – including many once told to shield. Here is what it means and what you can do.
From autumn 2025, millions of people at higher risk from COVID-19 will be denied an NHS COVID booster. This includes many who were once officially told to shield because of their risks.
Vaccines will only be funded for people over 75, care home residents, and a very small group with severely weakened immune systems. Everyone else who doesn’t qualify for a spring booster will be excluded.
This decision leaves millions at higher risk – including those between 65 and 75; or with chronic respiratory, heart, kidney, or neurological disease; diabetes and other endocrine disorders; asplenia or spleen dysfunction; younger adults in long-stay care; and pregnancy.
“As a 73 year old insulin-dependent diabetic, I am disgusted that this government has decided that I am potentially expendable just to save a few £s on a Covid vaccine this autumn. I will now have to pay in the region of £100 for a private vaccine. This short sighted decision will cause increased pressure on the NHS this winter!”
Keith Webley, Oxfordshire
NHS-funded boosters help protect lives and reduce pressure on our health service. ICU care costs the NHS thousands of pounds per patient, while vaccines cost a fraction of that.
Clinically Vulnerable Families (CVF) has launched a UK Government petition please sign and share our petition: petition.parliament.uk/petitions/733157
Why this matters
Covid-19 has not gone away. New variants such as NB.1.8.1 are circulating, and vulnerable people still face much higher risks of severe illness, hospitalisation, new conditions following infection, and even death.
Vaccines are very cheap compared to ICU care (£1,800+ per day), and the NHS can negotiate a significant discount when buying in bulk.
’Flu vaccination is rightly still offered free to Clinically Vulnerable groups because it saves lives and reduces hospital pressures. There is no logic in excluding these same groups from Covid boosters – particularly when they account for around 80% of our Covid deaths.
Without NHS boosters, millions will either have to choose to pay privately (at around £100+ per dose) or go without. That’s unfair, unaffordable, and will deepen health inequalities.
What you can do now?
Sign and share the petition: petition.parliament.uk/petitions/733157
Write to your MP using CVF’s ready-to-use templates
Share this blog with friends, family, and networks
NHS-funded COVID boosters save lives and protect the health service. Cutting them is unsafe, unfair, and a false economy.
Write to your MP
Every MP has a duty to respond to their constituents. Please write and tell them how this decision affects you or your family. CVF has made this easy with two ready-to-use templates:
If you are Clinically Vulnerable yourself
If you are writing as a family member
Sharing your story makes a real difference. MPs are more likely to listen when lots of constituents explain how policies affect their daily lives.
Who is considered Clinically Vulnerable?
The Government’s Green Book sets out who is considered at higher risk from COVID-19. The full list and tables can be found in Chapter 14a of the Green Book (UKHSA), which is due to be updated soon.
If you are unsure whether you or your loved ones are included, this is the best official source of information.
Who still qualifies?
Under the new rules, only the following groups will continue to qualify for NHS-funded COVID boosters:
People aged 75 and over
Residents in care homes for older adults
People who are immunocompromised, including those listed in the Green Book immunosuppression table below:
Table 1: Chapter 14a of the Green Book – Immunosuppression (UKHSA, 17th March 25)