Omicron surge likely to make government miss Covid booster jab target, officials say

PM Boris Johnson will miss his target to offer all adults a Covid booster jab by the end of this month, according to government officials.

As the tide of Omicron cases becomes larger, millions of people will be unable to get jabbed over the coming weeks if they fall ill with the virus, a source of the i newspaper has said.

Those who contract Covid will not be able to get their booster until at least the end of January, due to a compulsory 28-day wait after testing positive to ensure that they are no longer infected.

Dr Mary Ramsay, head of immunisation at the UK Health Security Agency, has said: “Anyone who catches Covid-19 must wait 28 days before getting their next vaccination, including the booster, to ensure they have fully recovered from the virus. This is extended to 12 weeks for healthy under-18s.”

Despite warnings that the target will not be met, a record 861,306 boosters and third doses were administered in the UK on Thursday. In total, more than 26 million people have had more than two vaccine jabs.

According to the most recent government data, there have been 14,909 cases of Omicron recorded in the UK – including 65 hospitalisations and one death specific to the variant.

Researchers at Imperial College London have found in their analysis that a Covid-19 booster jab will provide about 85 per cent protection against serious illness if exposed to the Omicron variant, which has been found to be more contagious than the previous variant Delta.

Scientists have said that there is still a lot of real-life information about Omicron that needs to be discovered and confirmed.

Due to its high transmissibility, more than two million people could contract Covid-19 if the current rate of growth in the variant continues and no further restrictions beyond the government’s ‘plan B’ measures that came into force earlier this week, the i reported.

On Friday, the UK recorded its highest number – 93,045 – of new daily Covid cases since the pandemic began, and 111 deaths linked to the virus.

Meanwhile, officials are reportedly drawing up plans for a two-week circuit breaker lockdown after Christmas.

Draft regulations were being prepared which would ban meeting others indoors except for work purposes, and that pubs and restaurants would be limited to outdoor service only, according to The Times.

Mr Johnson has been presented with a number of options under a so-called ‘plan C’, ranging from “mild guidance to nudge people, right through to lockdown,” the Financial Times reported.

The newspaper quoted the PM’s allies who claimed Mr Johnson still wanted to go down the guidance route, but that he also had to be realistic about the threat of Omicron.

Leaked minutes from the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage), seen by the BBC, reportedly said scientists had told ministers that tougher measures need to be brought in “very soon”.

A government spokesperson said: “The Government will continue to look closely at all the emerging data and we’ll keep our measures under review as we learn more about this variant.”

Meanwhile, the UK’s devolved administrations have ramped up their demands for more cash support amid rising cases of the Omicron variant.

A Cobra meeting is set to be held over the weekend with the leaders of Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland.

Mr Johnson has warned that Omicron is “a very serious threat to us now”.

On a visit to a vaccination centre in Hillingdon, west London, on Friday, he said: “We are seeing a considerable wave coming through and people have got to be prepared and they have got to understand what it entails.”