Booster jabs could be given to under 40s and time between doses may be reduced ...

Booster jabs could be given to under 40s and time between doses may be reduced ...
Booster jabs could be given to under 40s and time between doses may be reduced ...

Booster jabs could be given to under 40s and the time between doses may be reduced to speed out the vaccine rollout, it has been confirmed as Boris Johnson announced a crackdown to fight the Omicron variant of Covid-19.

Speaking at a Downing Street press conference today, the Prime Minister said it is not known how the vaccines will fare against the new super-mutant strain amid fears that the variant may make jabs 40 per cent less effective.

Mr Johnson, 57, confirmed that the Government plans to push forward with the booster campaign and plan to dole out six million jabs in England across the next three weeks.

He suggested that booster jabs, which are currently only available to over-40s, will be made available to more age groups while the six-month period in between doses could also be reduced to speed up the rollout. 

Mr Johnson also announced that face masks will be compulsory on public transport and in shops, while fully vaccinated arrivals to the UK will be required to self-isolate until they get a negative test, and all contacts of people infected with the Omicron mutation must stay at home for 10 days.

Hours earlier, health secretary Sajid Javid confirmed that two people tested positive with the new variant in Essex and Nottingham. The cases are linked and related to travel from southern Africa.

Boris Johnson, 57, confirmed that the Government plans to push forward with the booster campaign and plan to dole out six million jabs in England across the next three weeks

Boris Johnson, 57, confirmed that the Government plans to push forward with the booster campaign and plan to dole out six million jabs in England across the next three weeks

Announcing a string of tightened restrictions at the press conference, Mr Johnson said: 'We need to bolster our protections against this new variant.

'We don't yet exactly know how effective our vaccines will be against Omicron but we have good reasons for believing they will provide at least some measure of protection.

'If you're boosted, your response is likely to be stronger so it's more vital than ever that people get their jabs and we get those boosters into arms as fast as possible.

'From today we're going to boost the booster campaign, we're already planning to do six million jabs in England alone over the next three weeks and now we're looking to go further.'

He also said that the booster jabs could be rolled out to under-40s and offered to people sooner than six months after their second jab to 'buy time' for scientists and take the strain off the NHS.

He added: 'We need to buy time for our scientists to understand exactly what we're dealing with. And for us to get more people vaccinated and above all, to get more people boosted as well as to help our NHS prepare in what is already a challenging winter.' 

The Prime Minister said the 'temporary and precautionary' measures will be reviewed in three weeks, while the Government's vaccine experts will be tasked with considering whether to extend booster jabs to more age groups.  

Professor Chris Whitty said the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) need to decide whether to extend the booster vaccine down to adults age 18, and whether a second dose should be offered to children aged 12-15 who decided with their families to get the first dose of the vaccine. 

The Prime Minister suggested that booster jabs, which are currently only available to over-40s, will be made available to more age groups to fight the Omicron variant (file image)

The Prime Minister suggested that booster jabs, which are currently only available to over-40s, will be made available to more age groups to fight the Omicron variant (file image)

Mr Whitty also said it is not yet clear how effective the vaccine will be as protection against the variant - but said those who are vaccinated or receive the booster jab will be less likely to become seriously ill.

He warned the spread of the Omicron variant across the world over the next few days was 'inevitable' but added the majority of cases in the UK remain to be of the Delta variant. 

Meanwhile, Sir Patrick Vallance said vaccine makers are already looking at how they can make the jabs more effective against emerging variants.

The Chief Scientific Adviser confirmed a vaccine designed to specifically target the Omicron variant could be created in 'about 100 days'.

He told the Downing Street press conference: 'I think it's important to recognise there are three ways in which this can be done and the companies are thinking about this. 

'The first is the boosters will give high enough antibody coverage that actually that's going to be enough to cover this. 

'That's the first situation and needs to be tested. But that looks like something that anyway is going to give protection, whether there's more needed on top of that we'll have to see.

'The second is that vaccine manufacturers have been producing broader vaccines anyway to get broader coverage across potential new variants. So those are in the pipeline.

'Then a couple of companies have already said they could tweak their existing vaccines and get a new vaccine out specifically against this in about 100 days.

'Those are the sort of three scenarios, clearly the one which is the one to really go for now is boost, because it is the case that as you keep boosting the vaccine, you get slightly broader coverage because the immune system knows it needs to get broader.

Cases of Omicron have already been picked up in South Africa, Botswana, Hong Kong, Israel and Belgium. It is not yet known whether the variant arrived in the Netherlands yesterday but Dutch authorities are sequencing passengers' tests

Britain has sequenced two cases of the Omicron variant in Nottingham and Chelmsford, Sajid Javid said today

Britain has sequenced two cases of the Omicron variant in Nottingham and Chelmsford, Sajid Javid said today

'Because the antibody levels are so high, it actually causes enough coverage of other variants to be effective.' 

Another 39,567 Covid cases and 131 deaths were recorded in the UK today. Department of Health officials posted nearly 40,000 daily infections – down 3.36 per cent from 40,941 last Saturday – while the number of people who have died 28 days after testing positive for Covid has also fallen by 12.7 per cent from 150 last week.

What do we know about the Omicron variant? 

Scientists have said they are concerned about the B.1.1.529 variant, named by the World Health Organisation as Omicron, as it has around 30 different mutations - double the amount present in the Delta variant. The mutations contain features seen in all of the other variants but also traits that have not been seen before. 

UK scientists first became aware of the new strain on November 23 after samples were uploaded on to a coronavirus variant tracking website from South Africa, Hong Kong and then Botswana. 

On Friday, it was confirmed that cases had been identified in Israel and Belgium but currently there are no known cases in the UK.

Professor Adam Finn, a member of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), told Good Morning Britain on Friday that sequencing is being carried out around the UK to determine if any cases have already been imported. 

Work is also under way to see whether the new variant may be causing

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