Booster vaccinations needed to prevent lockdown at Christmas
ANY fresh Christmas lockdown and Covid “storm clouds” forming in Europe can only be avoided by those eligible getting their booster vaccinations, the country has been warned.
Significant numbers of unvaccinated people across Europe are dying from coronavirus, England’s chief medical officer Professor Chris Whitty said at a Downing Street briefing yesterday.
And he said if the number of deaths was replicated in the UK, winter restrictions may need a rethink.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson said while the data did not show, at the moment, that any additional measures were needed, he could not rule out a lockdown over Christmas if case rates rose.
The UK Government announced yesterday that those aged over 40 would be invited to receive booster jabs in coming weeks.
Mr Johnson said: “It would be an utter tragedy if, after everything we have been through, people who had done the right thing by getting double vaccinated ended up becoming seriously ill or even losing their lives because they allowed their immunity to wane.”
Prof Whitty warned that “we’re beginning to see a winter respiratory effect” of other viruses impacting on the coronavirus pandemic and putting “substantial pressure” on the NHS.
He said: “There has already been a very significant increase in eastern Europe which is still ongoing, with significant numbers of people dying, in particular among the unvaccinated.
“That has now moved westward and, as you can see, is now increasing significantly, also in many western European countries.”
The PM 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
❝ 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 Prime Minister Boris Johnson
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.”
In Bristol, health bosses are facing a huge battle to try to improve vaccination rates.
One area of Bristol still has less than 50 per cent of people double-jabbed against the virus, while a further six neighbourhoods have less than 60 per cent with two vaccinations according to the latest data from the government.
An interactive map published on the Government’s website – which shows first and second doses administered across the country, breaking down the rates by neighbourhood – shows that inner-city neighbourhoods continue to have the lowest rates of covid vaccination in Bristol.
Barton Hill has the worst vaccination uptake with just 49.2 per cent of people receiving both doses of the jab in the latest data published up to November 13.
Bristol City Centre, Temple Meads, Kingsdown and Stokes Croft, St Paul’s, Upper Easton and Lower Easton all have less than 60 per cent of the population fully vaccinated.
In comparison, some areas outside the centre of Bristol have over 80 per cent of the population double-jabbed, including Henleaze, Westbury Village and Westbury on Trym.
The difference between areas is affected by a variety of factors including demographic and areas with younger populations are likely to have fewer people doublejabbed, as they were lower down on the priority list for the roll-out and became eligible to book more recently.
A spokesperson from the Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire vaccination programme said: “We’re working hard to try and understand why uptake is lower in some areas of Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire, in partnership with communities and our local authority partners.”
AUSTRIA took what its leader called the “dramatic” step of implementing a nationwide lockdown for unvaccinated people who have not recently had Covid-19, perhaps the most drastic of a string of measures being taken by European governments to get a massive regional resurgence of the virus under control.
The move, which took effect at midnight, prohibits people 12 and older who haven’t been vaccinated or recently recovered, from leaving their homes except for basic activities such as working, grocery shopping, going to school or university or for a walk or getting vaccinated.
The lockdown is initially being imposed until November 24 in the Alpine country of 8.9 million.
It does not apply to children under 12 because they cannot officially get vaccinated, though the capital, Vienna, on Monday opened up vaccinations for under-12s as part of a pilot and reported high demand.
Officials say police patrols and checks will be stepped up and unvaccinated people can be fined up to 1,450 euros ( 1,660) if they violate the lockdown.
“We really didn’t take this step lightly and I don’t think it should be talked down,” Chancellor Alexander Schallenberg told Oe1 radio.
“This a dramatic step, about two million people in this country are affected . ... What we are trying is precisely to reduce contact between the unvaccinated and vaccinated to a minimum, and also contact between the unvaccinated.”
“My aim is very clearly to get the unvaccinated to get themselves vaccinated and not to lock down the vaccinated,” Mr Schallenberg added.
“In the long term, the way out of this vicious circle we are in – and it is a vicious circle, we are stumbling from wave to lockdown and that can’t carry on ad infinitum – is only vaccination.”
About 65% of Austria’s population is fully vaccinated, a rate Mr Schallenberg described as “shamefully low”.
All students at schools, whether vaccinated or not, are now required to take three Covid-19 tests per week, at least one of them a PCR test.
The leader of the far-right opposition Freedom Party vowed to combat the new restrictions by “all parliamentary and legal means we have available”.
Herbert Kickl said that “two million people are being practically imprisoned without having done anything wrong”.
On Monday, Mr Kickl announced on Facebook that he had tested positive for Covid-19 and must self-isolate for 14 days, so he will not be able to attend a protest in Vienna planned for Saturday.
Austria on Monday recorded 894.3 new cases per 100,000 residents over the previous seven days.
That is far worse than neighbouring Germany, which has set its own pandemic records of late, and has 303 new cases per 100,000 residents.