Boris Johnson announcement: PM warns Brits they must get boosters to ‘avoid restrictions on daily life’

PRIME Minister Boris Johnson has today urged Brits to get their coronavirus boosters as soon as they are eligible.

It was earlier today announced that Covid vaccines would be rolled out to the over 40s in order to beat a winter wave of the bug.

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Teenagers between the ages of 16 and 17 will now also be able to come forward for their second coronavirus vaccine.

Addressing the nation this afternoon, Mr Johnson said: "If we want to control the epidemic in the UK then we must all get vaccinated as soon as we are eligible.

"We are making second jabs available for 16-17 year-olds and boosters available to all those 40-49, six months after their first dose.

“Over time, the protection from two jabs starts to wane, but the third jab boosts protection up to 90 per cent.

"Many more people who are eligible have not yet come forward, if you are one of those people please go and get that third jab.

“It would be a tragedy if people who have done the right thing and got double vaccinated got seriously ill or lost their lives by not getting their booster."

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As soon as it has been six months since your second dose, then you will be able to get your booster.

Speaking at a briefing this morning Professor Wei Shen Lim, Chair, COVID-19 immunisation, JCVI said: "Booster vaccine doses in more vulnerable adults, and second vaccine doses in 16 – 17 year olds are important ways to increase our protection against Covid-19 infection and severe disease.

"These vaccinations will also help extend our protection into 2022."

The announcement on boosters comes as results from a real world study found that Pfizer/BioNTech booster jabs give over 90 per cent protection against symptomatic Covid in the over 50s.

The findings revealed that two weeks after receiving a booster dose, protection against symptomatic infection in adults aged 50 years and over was 93.1 per cent in those with AstraZeneca as their primary course and 94.0 per cent for those who had Pfizer-BioNTech.

If we want to control the epidemic here in the UK and if we want to avoid restrictions on our daily lives we must all get vaccinated as soon as we are eligible

Prime Minister Boris Johnson

It's these results that pushed the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) to today announce that booster jabs will be given to all those over the age of 40.

However, Mr Johnson has warned of an 'infections blizzard' that could come over from Europe.

Face masks, work from home orders and Covid passports could come back if the Government's so-called Plan B measures are enforced this winter.

Speaking this afternoon during a Downing Street press conference he added: "A new Covid wave has swept through central Europe and is now affecting western Europe

"If we want to avoid restrictions on our daily lives we must all get vaccinated
"please, please, go get vaccinated to protect yourself and others. And in doing so we can ensure we can continue going as we are".

Asked if he would impose a Christmas lockdown if cases continued to surge, Mr Johnson said "clearly we cannot rule anything out" - but said there was no data suggesting a lockdown was currently needed.

Speaking to broadcasters on a visit to a medical centre in east London, the Prime Minister earlier today said: "We don't see anything in the data at the moment to suggest that we need to go to Plan B, we're sticking with Plan A.

"But what we certainly have got to recognise is there is a storm of infection out there in parts of Europe, you can see those numbers ticking up very sharply in some of our continental friends.

"And we've just got to recognise that there is always a risk that a blizzard could come from the east again, as the months get colder.

"The best protection for our country is for everybody to go forward and get that booster."

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GO GET A JAB

Experts have hailed boosters as the best way to keep Brits safe this winter.

Professor Neil Ferguson, scientific adviser to the government said the most vulnerable in society need to have their boosters to keep transmission rates low.

The Sun's Give Britain A Booster campaign is also urging people to get a third jab.

Around 12.6 million Brits have now had their booster vaccines, with the programme rumoured to end in January.

Mr Johnson praised GPs and said 'they are doing an amazing job at getting jabs into arms'.

Despite the wave of infections coming in from Europe, the Prime Minister said there was no reason that so-called Plan B would have to be implemented and added that there was nothing in the data at the moment to suggest that restrictions would be in place at Christmas.

He added: ""We don't yet know the extent to which this new wave will sweep up on our shores but history shows that we cannot afford to be complacent," he said.

"Those countries with lower vaccination rates have tended to see bigger surges in infection and in turn been forced to respond with harsher measures while those countries with higher vaccination rates have so far fared better.

"It shows us that if we want to control the epidemic here in the UK and if we want to avoid restrictions on our daily lives we must all get vaccinated as soon as we are eligible."

'NEW EPICENTRE'

On travelling abroad, Mr Johnson said that what classes as 'fully vaccinated' may have to be redefined.

He added that getting your booster jab will become and 'important factor'.

Speaking in the commons this afternoon the Health Secretary warned that Europe had returned as the epicentre of infections once more.

Sajid Javid also told the Commons a new "Delta-plus" variant now accounted for 15% of Covid cases in the UK, and more variants could develop.

He said: "Although we have built up this huge protection, this is not a time for complacency. Earlier this month the WHO's Europe director said that Europe was back at the epicentre of the pandemic.

Just this weekend the Netherlands and Austria have put in place partial lockdowns after surges in cases.

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"We also still face the risk of new variants and, just as we have seen with the emergence of... the so-called Delta-plus variant, the latest data shows it now accounts for around 15% of cases in the UK.

"Although Delta-plus may be more infectious than the original Delta variant, our investigations indicate that our vaccines remain effective against it, but we do all know that there will be more variants in the future."

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