Britain PM vows faster booster over Omicron tidal wave
Britain Prime Minister, Boris Johnson said that the country faces a tidal wave of infections from the Omicron coronavirus variant, and announced a huge increase in booster vaccinations to strengthen defences against it.
The prime minister announced that everyone age 18 and older will be offered a third shot of vaccine by the end of this month in response to the Omicron emergency. The previous target was the end of January.
“No one should be in any doubt, there is a tidal wave of Omicron coming.
“I’m afraid we’re 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.
“Cases of the highly transmissible variant are doubling every two to three days,” he added.
The country’s medical advisers raised the COVID alert level due to a rapid increase in infection from the variant, which originated in South Africa last month.
Johnson said, it was now clear that two doses of vaccine are simply not enough to protect fully against the new variant.
However, “Our scientists are confident that with a third dose, a booster dose, we can all bring our level of protection back up.”
He announced a national mission to deliver booster vaccines, with pop-up vaccination centres, seven-day-a-week clinics getting support from teams of military planners and thousands of volunteer vaccinators.
UK scientists believe existing vaccines appear less effective in preventing symptomatic infections in people exposed to Omicron, though preliminary data show that effectiveness appears to rise to between 70 percent and 75 percent after a third vaccine dose.
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Kamila/Al-Jazeera
