The UK has announced a program to accelerate vaccines amid a rise in omicron Covid cases.
UK Health Secretary Sajid Javid said it was not certain that the government would be able to keep UK schools open, as the government was fighting to stop the spread of coronavirus. omicron variant Covid-19.
“When it comes to our fight against the pandemic, there are no guarantees,” Javid told LBC on Monday, as he detailed the plan for all of it, Javid told LBC on Monday. All adults in the UK got a booster shot at the end of December. “Once again we’re in a vaccine-virus race.”
His comments indicate that ministers are facing balancing act as they try to deal with the rise in infections, even as a growing number of politicians in the ruling Conservative Party are threatened to revolt against the new restrictions.
In a hastily arranged televised speech late Sunday, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the UK was facing an omicron emergency and had announced an accelerated program to bring the country overcome the crisis.
But the numbers involved show how quickly new curbs can become needed. Johnson said the National Health Service would need to match its best vaccination date – 844,000 in March – and then have to beat it day in and day out to hit its goal of providing all people large vaccinations on New Year’s Eve.
More Boosters
The UK is deploying military planning teams to help with the deployment, with new locations to be opened and vaccine centers open seven days a week. The government will “throw everything” into the program, Javid said.
The move comes after Johnson’s government stepped up a number of restrictions in recent days, including mandating face coverings in indoor public spaces and introducing reopening guidelines for people to work. work at home.
However, scientific advisers including Susan Hopkins, chief medical adviser to the UK’s Health Security Agency, suggested on Sunday that additional measures may soon be needed to contain the condition. increase in hospital admissions.
An additional 48,854 confirmed cases were announced on Sunday, bringing the seven-day average to 51,497 cases per day. Javid told Sky News on Monday that of around 3,000 omicron cases in the UK, around 10 have been hospitalized and no deaths have been reported.
Tightening rules
Further tightening would be a risk for Johnson, who has put considerable political capital into allowing gatherings and other festive activities to take place this Christmas and who faces a Tory party. increasingly restless.
Johnson’s power over his party and in the public health message has been undermined in recent weeks after a string of damaging allegations surrounding Christmas parties in violation of the law. Covid-19 last year.
That could come up in a series of votes on the new Covid rules in Parliament on Tuesday. Rebel Conservative MP Steve Baker estimated around 60 colleagues would vote against Johnson, further undermining his leadership role.
The measures are expected to pass, however, as the opposition Labor Party is expected to vote on them. The real risk to Johnson lies in what happens next, if current rules and the boost program prove insufficient against omicrons.
Robert Read, a member of the Joint Committee on Vaccines and Immunization, told LBC radio on Monday: “We need to give those third doses to as many adults as possible. “Watch out for this virus to become a raging bull.”
(Except for the title, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from an aggregated feed.)
