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Our only agenda is to publish the truth so you can be an informed participant in democracy. We need your help. More Info ### I would like to contribute One Time Monthly Yearly Join Now ![](\\" ![](\\" Viral image stated on January 25, 2023 in an Instagram post: The United Kingdom banned COVID-19 booster vaccines for people under 50. ![\\"true\\"](\\" mostly-false/6a6ef6075c162fdccf5eb960e683dcd1.jpg.\\") ![\\"barely- true\\"](\\" false.jpg\\") * Facebook Fact-checks * Coronavirus * Viral image ![\\"Ciara](\\" By Ciara O\'Rourke January 31, 2023 # The UK is targeting older adults in its upcoming COVID-19 vaccine campaigns, not banning them #### If Your Time is short * The United Kingdom is changing its COVID-19 vaccination program so that people under 50 qualify for a booster only if they are at a higher-risk for severe illness, work or live with people who are immunocompromised, or are pregnant, among other categories. It\'s not a ban, but it restricts who can access the booster. See the sources for this fact-check A screenshot of a blog post headline populating social media gives the mistaken impression that the United Kingdom is prohibiting anyone under 50 years old from receiving a COVID-19 vaccine. \"U.K. becomes latest country to ban COVID boosters for under-50s,\" the Jan. 25 headline says. An Instagram post sharing this message was flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.) We contacted the United Kingdom Health Security Agency about the claim but didn’t hear back. However, a spokesperson for the agency, which oversees infectious disease response in the United Kingdom, told The Associated Press that boosters are \"definitely not being banned\" and described as \"nonsense\" the claims the United Kingdom is banning them for people under 50. Here’s what’s actually happening. On Jan. 25, Steve Barclay, the United Kingdom’s health and social care secretary, announced that the U.K. was changing its COVID-19 vaccination program for 2023 under guidance from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation. #### Featured Fact-check ![](\\" ![](\\" Jeffrey Barke stated on August 23, 2024 in an Instagram post Food and Drug Administration approval for updated COVID-19 vaccines requires a public health emergency declaration. ![\\"true\\"](\\" false/33efdb6633e5e2fdc2d4e2f63383a1e0.jpg.\\") ![\\"false\\"](\\" false.jpg\\") By Jeff Cercone • August 27, 2024 On Feb. 12, Barclay said in a tweet, the 2022 fall booster campaign would end, and the United Kingdom would stop offering boosters for 16- to 49-year-olds who were not in a clinical risk group. The risk group, which remains eligible for the booster, includes people with chronic respiratory disease, immunosuppression and severe mental illness, people who are pregnant and people who are morbidly obese. Frontline workers and people who live with someone who is immunocompromised, among others, are also eligible for the booster, regardless of age. \"We strongly encourage everyone who is currently eligible for a first booster and is yet to come forward to do so before the offer closes,\" the Health Security Agency said in a statement. The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation said in a November 2022 statement on its advice for the United Kingdom’s COVID-19 vaccination program in 2023 that \"severe COVID-19 continues to be disproportionately greater in those from older age groups, residents in care homes for older adults, and persons with certain underlying health conditions.\" The claim that the United Kingdom banned boosters for people under 50 echoes one we’ve previously checked about Denmark prohibiting people in that age group from receiving any COVID-19 shot. In that case, we found that Denmark was focusing its booster campaign on people over 50 — not restricting everyone else from receiving a shot. The United Kingdom has launched a similar booster campaign plan. But unlike Denmark, where people under 50 could still generally get the COVID-19 primary vaccine series, the U.K. Health Security Agency spokesperson told The Associated Press that healthy younger people who don’t have risk factors, such as cancer or pregnancy, won’t be able to get any COVID-19 vaccine shots going forward. People under 50 aren\'t banned from receiving the booster in the UK, but there are restrictions about who in that age range can get one. We rate this claim Mostly False. #### Read About Our Process The Principles of the Truth-O-Meter ### Our Sources Instagram post, Jan. 25, 2023 PolitiFact, Denmark is focusing its COVID-19 booster campaign on people over 50, it’s not banning everyone else, Oct. 18, 2022 Reuters, UK to give COVID booster dose to higher-risk groups in autumn, Jan. 25, 2023 The Daily Sceptic, U.K. Becomes Latest Country to Ban Covid Boosters for Under-50s, Jan. 25, 2023 The Associated Press, UK not banning COVID-19 vaccines for people under 50, Jan. 27, 2023 Steve Barclay tweet, Jan. 25, 2023 UK Health Security Agency, JCVI advises an autumn COVID-19 vaccine booster, Jan. 25, 2023 JCVI statement on the COVID-19 vaccination programme for 2023: 8 November 2022, updated, Jan. 27, 2023 COVID-19 Green Book, Chapter 14a, Sept. 4, 2022 ## Browse the Truth-O-Meter ### More by Ciara O\'Rourke slide 4 to 6 of 15 ![](\\" logo-black-01/b6cedac93f6e57c68ecc025e5ec29d57.jpg\\") ![](\\" 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7, 2024 in a Threads post: Photo shows Elton John wearing a “MAGA” jacket. ![\\"false\\"](\\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" By Ciara O\'Rourke • September 12, 2024 ### The UK is targeting older adults in its upcoming COVID-19 vaccine campaigns, not banning them * ![](\\" ![](\\" Sam Brown stated on August 28, 2024 in a campaign appearance: Proposed Nevada constitutional amendment to protect abortion rights would put “essentially no limit on access to abortion.” ![\\"false\\"](\\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" By Caleb McCullough • September 13, 2024 * ![](\\" ![](\\" Jon Tester stated on September 8, 2024 in a Facebook ad: Tim Sheehy “would let politicians like him ban abortion, with no exceptions for rape or to save a woman’s life, and criminalize women.” ![\\"barely-true\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"barely-true\\"](\\" barely-true.jpg\\") By Louis Jacobson • September 12, 2024 * ![](\\" ![](\\" Viral image stated on September 8, 2024 in a Threads post: “Elon Musk is going to expose Bill Gates soon, says ‘he’s 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The United Kingdom banned COVID19 booster vaccines for people under 50