Boris Johnson has announced he is rapidly speeding up the UK’s coronavirus booster jab rollout as he warned the country: ‘There is a tidal wave of Omicron coming’.
The Prime Minister delivered an address to the nation this evening as he said he is bringing forward his end of January target for every adult to be offered a jab by one month.
It means that everyone eligible aged 18 and over will have the chance to get their booster before the New Year, with Mr Johnson urging people to ‘get boosted now’.
Mr Johnson said the UK is ‘now facing an emergency in our battle with the new variant’ and ‘we must urgently reinforce our wall of vaccine protection to keep our friends and loved ones safe’.
The PM said the data was now clear that two doses of the vaccine are ‘simply not enough to give the level of protection we all need’ but the ‘good news is that our scientists are confident that with a third dose – a booster dose – we can all bring our level of protection back up’.
Launching what he described as the ‘Omicron Emergency Boost’, Mr Johnson said that in order to deliver the necessary jabs by the end of the year ‘we’ll need to match the NHS’s best vaccination day yet – and then beat it day after day’.
He said this will require ‘an extraordinary effort’ as he revealed some medical appointments will have to be postponed until 2022 so that clinicians can commit to administering jabs.
Mr Johnson said ‘every adult over 18 who has had a second dose of the vaccine at least three months ago’ will be eligible for a jab from tomorrow.
The formal NHS Booking System will be open to the younger age groups from Wednesday but Mr Johnson said ‘in some places you can walk in from tomorrow’.
Mr Johnson also announced that 42 military planning teams are being deployed to every region of the UK to help with the rollout while additional vaccine sites and mobile units will also be stood up and opening hours for clinics will be extended so they run seven days a week.
The address to the nation came after the UK Covid alert level was raised following a rapid increase in the number of Omicron cases being recorded.
The country’s four chief medical officers and NHS England’s national medical director recommended to ministers that the UK go up to Level 4 from Level 3 after a further 1,239 confirmed cases of the mutant strain were recorded across the country as of Sunday.
That brings the total number of UK cases of Omicron to 3,137, a 65 per cent increase from Saturday’s total of 1,898 cases.
Level 4 is one step below the most severe Level 5. It means coronavirus is ‘in general circulation, transmission is high and direct Covid-19 pressure on healthcare services is widespread and substantial or rising’.
Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi revealed this morning that there are now patients with Omicron being treated in UK hospitals but health bosses said there is yet to be a confirmed Omicron-linked death.
The booster announcement came as Mr Johnson braces for a Tory rebellion in the House of Commons on Tuesday when MPs are due to vote on his ‘Plan B’ measures.
Labour has said it will vote for the new curbs which include rolling out vaccine passports for nightclubs and large indoor events, making face masks compulsory in most indoor public settings and advising people to work from home.
But the new restrictions have prompted Tory fury with ‘at least’ 60 Conservative MPs said to be planning to rebel to vote against the package.
Labour support means ‘Plan B’ will be agreed by the Commons even if there is a sizeable Tory revolt but should such a rebellion take place it would be the largest of Mr Johnson’s premiership to date and would represent a hammer blow to his authority.
Boris Johnson has announced he is rapidly speeding up the UK’s coronavirus booster jab rollout as he warned the country: ‘There is a tidal wave of Omicron coming’.
It means that everyone eligible aged 18 and over will have the chance to get their booster before the New Year, with Mr Johnson urging people to ‘get boosted now’
The UK Covid alert level was raised from level 3 to level 4 after the UK reported another 1,239 confirmed cases of the Omicron variant
Mr Johnson said in his address that the UK is ‘now facing an emergency in our battle with the new variant, Omicron, and we must urgently reinforce our wall of vaccine protection to keep our friends and loved ones safe’.
Referring to the decision to raise the Covid alert level, Mr Johnson said: ‘No-one should be in any doubt: there is a tidal wave of Omicron coming, and I’m afraid it is now clear that two doses of vaccine are simply not enough to give the level of protection we all need.
‘But the good news is that our scientists are confident that with a third dose – a booster dose – we can all bring our level of protection back up.
‘And I know there will be some people watching who will be asking whether Omicron is less severe than previous variants, and whether we really need to go out and get that booster. And the answer is yes we do.
‘Do not make the mistake of thinking Omicron can’t hurt you; can’t make you and your loved ones seriously ill. We’ve already seen hospitalisations doubling in a week in South Africa. And we have patients with Omicron in hospital here in the UK right now.
‘At this point our scientists cannot say that Omicron is less severe, and even if that proved to be true, we already know it is so much more transmissible, that a wave of Omicron through a population that was not boosted would risk a level of hospitalisation that could overwhelm our NHS and lead sadly to very many deaths.’
Mr Johnson said the Government ‘must act now’ to increase the number of jabs being delivered as he announced the launch of the ‘Omicron Emergency Boost’ which he described as ‘a national mission unlike anything we have done before in the vaccination programme’.
He said: ‘A fortnight ago I said we would offer every eligible adult a booster by the end of January. Today, in light of this Omicron Emergency, I am bringing that target forward by a whole month.
‘Everyone eligible aged 18 and over in England will have the chance to get their booster before the New Year and we have spoken today to the Devolved Administrations, to confirm the UK Government will provide additional support to accelerate vaccinations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
‘To hit the pace we need, we’ll need to match the NHS’s best vaccination day yet – and then beat it day after day. This will require an extraordinary effort and as we focus on boosters and make this new target achievable, it will mean some other appointments will need to be postponed until the New Year.’
Mr Johnson said that from tomorrow in England the booster programme will be open to all adults who have had a second dose of the vaccine at least three months ago.
Delivering a plea to the nation, the PM said: ‘If you haven’t yet had a vaccine at all, then please get yourself at least some protection with a jab as quickly as possible. If you’ve already had your booster, encourage your friends and family to do the same.
‘We are a great country. We have the vaccines to protect our people. So let’s do it. Let’s Get Boosted Now. Get Boosted Now for yourself, for your friends and your family. Get Boosted Now to protect jobs and livelihoods across this country. Get Boosted Now to protect our NHS, our freedoms and our way of life. Get Boosted Now.’
The Government announced this afternoon that 1,196 additional cases of the Omicron variant had been identified in England, taking the total to 2,953.
Meanwhile, there were 38 confirmed cases in Scotland, where 159 cases of the Omicron variant have now been confirmed.
In Wales, 15 confirmed cases have been reported, but there were no additional cases in the past 24 hours, and in Northern Ireland, there were five additional cases, taking the total there to 10.
The Government said that as of 9am on Sunday there had been a further 48,854 lab-confirmed Covid-19 cases in the UK overall. It also said a further 52 people had died within 28 days of testing positive for Covid-19.
The UK’s chief medical officers – England’s CMO Professor Chris Whitty, Northern Ireland’s Sir Michael McBride, Scotland’s Professor Gregor Smith, and Wales’ Dr Frank Atherton, along with NHS England’s national medical director Professor Stephen Powis – said the alert level needed to rise because of the ‘rapid increase in Omicron cases’.
They said: ‘Transmission of COVID-19 is already high in the community, mainly still driven by Delta, but the emergence of Omicron adds additional and rapidly increasing risk to the public and healthcare services.
‘Early evidence shows that Omicron is spreading much faster than Delta and that vaccine protection against symptomatic disease from Omicron is reduced.
‘Data on severity will become clearer over the coming weeks but hospitalisations from Omicron are already occurring and these are likely to increase rapidly.’
The health experts said that ‘when vaccine protection is reduced in the way that is happening with Omicron it is essential to top up that protection with a booster’.
Models by London School of Tropical Health and Medicine show the projected path of the Omicron Covid wave in the UK with no extra measures beyond Plan B. The medium case scenario assumes boosters provide a high amount of protection against disease, but with a high degree of vaccine escape by Omicron. The modelling shows hospitalisations exceeding the January 2021 peak – but modellers did not take into account any reduction in severity of Omicron
Models by London School of Tropical Health and Medicine show the projected path of the Omicron Covid wave in the UK with if lockdown measures are reintroduced. This worst case scenario assumed that boosters do not provide high protection against Omicron and there is a large number of vaccine evading infections
‘Both booster vaccines (Pfizer and Moderna) increase the immune response substantially and show good effectiveness although with some reduction compared to Delta,’ they said.
‘The NHS is currently under pressure mainly driven by non-COVID pressures. With a variant spreading with increased transmissibility and reduced vaccine effectiveness, we are likely to see this pressure rise soon.
‘It is extremely important that if you are eligible, you get your COVID vaccination now – whether this be your first, second or booster dose.
‘People should continue take sensible precautions including ventilating rooms, using face coverings, testing regularly and isolating when symptomatic.’
Mr Zahawi painted a grim picture of the spread of the mutant strain as he said it now accounts for one third of all cases in London.
He described the emergence of Omicron as a ‘huge bump in the road’ as the nation tries to recover from the pandemic, with cases of the variant doubling every two to three days.
Mr Zahawi warned that the actual number of cases of Omicron is likely to be ‘up to 10 times’ higher than the confirmed number.
The Cabinet minister said 20million booster jabs have already been administered and ‘it is now a race to get all adults who are eligible for their booster jabs to be boosted as quickly as possible’.
He added: ‘As Patrick Vallance said at the press conference, we are transitioning this virus from pandemic to endemic but there are big bumps in the road and this is a big bump, a huge bump in the road, in the sense that we now have a variant that is so infectious that it will dominate and of course exponentially grow.’
The pleas to the nation to get booster jabs came as the PM faces a massive Tory rebellion when the House of Commons votes on his ‘Plan B’ on Tuesday.
Tory MP Steve Baker today accused Mr Johnson of ‘creating a miserable dystopia’ by re-imposing coronavirus restrictions.
Mr Baker lashed out at Mr Johnson and claimed ‘at least’ 60 Tory MPs will vote against the Government when they are asked to rubber-stamp the PM’s latest Covid curbs.
However, the PM’s crackdown will almost certainly be agreed by the House of Commons after Sir Keir Starmer confirmed the Labour Party will vote in favour of the new rules.
Sir Keir said this morning he believes the measures are ‘necessary’ to counter the ‘great threat’ posed by the Omicron variant.
He said Labour will act in the ‘public interest’ and support ‘Plan B’ as he insisted he will resist calls to take ‘political advantage’ of the situation.
Mr Johnson triggered his ‘Plan B’ last week in a bid to buy the UK time in the fight against Omicron.
Many Tory backbenchers have reacted with fury to the measures, with some having already pledged to vote against the moves.
The decision to make vaccine passports compulsory for large venues has gone down particularly badly with backbenchers.
The passes will need to be shown to gain access to indoor venues with more than 500 people, unseated outdoor venues with more than 4,000 people and any venue with more than 10,000 people from Wednesday.
The ‘Plan B’ measures also include compulsory mask-wearing in most public indoor settings, as well as guidance for employees to work from home where they can.
