Two more rounds of booster jabs ordered
Enough vaccines bought to protect whole country against emerging variants for the next two years
BRITAIN has bought enough vaccines for two more boosters per person, under a deal to provide 114 million more jabs that can be modified against new variants.
Ministers said the deal with Moderna and Pfizer, covering two years, would “future-proof ” the country beyond this winter’s rollout.
All eligible adults are to be offered a third jab by the end of January, in an attempt to prepare defences against the omicron variant. But the new deal, announced by Sajid Javid, the Health Secretary, suggests booster jabs could be offered for years to come amid concern that further variants will emerge.
Last night the NHS had yet to issue plans for an accelerated rollout of jabs, four days after the Prime Minister called for a rapid extension of boosters.
On Monday the Joint Committee of Vaccination and Immunisation recommended that the gap between doses could be cut to as little as three months, but NHS chiefs have yet to announce a plan, amid wrangles with GPS over how the workload will be managed.
Nine more omicron cases were identified in England yesterday, taking the total of confirmed UK cases to 32. Work is under way to establish if there are any links to southern Africa, with officials saying more cases were “very likely”.
Yesterday an Israeli cardiologist who was one of the first omicron cases to be identified says he believed he caught the virus in London last month, attending a heart conference at which more than 1,200 medics were present.
The disclosure raised concerns that the variant arrived in this country earlier than thought and could have spread at the event at the EXCEL convention centre more than a week ago.
Meanwhile, Ursula von der Leyen the European Commission president, called on EU member states to consider making Covid vaccinations mandatory, while the World Health Organisation reported that the variant has so far been found in 23 countries.
Last night Mr Javid said a deal for 114million doses of Moderna and Pfizer in 2022 and 2023 would protect the public “for years to come”. Officials said the contracts, which were accelerated in the light of the new variant, included “access to modified vaccines” to combat omicron and any future variants.
Mr Javid said: “These new deals will future-proof the great British vaccination effort – which has so far delivered more than 115million first, second and booster jabs across the UK – and will ensure we can protect even more people in the years ahead.”
Today Boris Johnson will convene a summit of scientists and pharmaceutical industry leaders as part of efforts to tackle variants and create “variantproof ” vaccines within 100 days.
The jabs deal includes 60million extra doses of the Moderna vaccine and 54 million more Pfizer/biontech doses. Officials said the Government already had enough supply of both vaccines for the current booster programme. NHS officials have previously said they are making plans for annual Covid boosters.
NHS England is still working on guidance for the accelerated booster rollout. The plans are expected to see a sharp rise in the number of hospitals offering jabs. Currently just 30 NHS hospitals in England offer boosters, but this is expected to double in the next two weeks, while all 230 NHS trusts in England will be asked if they could run jab clinics.
Despite several days of talks, health officials have yet to agree a plan with GPS, who have said they can only take on an expanded role if they stop providing millions of routine health checks.
The guidance is expected to say that the accelerated rollout should start by Dec 13 at the latest. Those in their 40s and 50s yet to receive their third jab will be called forward.
EARLY research suggests that two to three doses of a Covid-19 vaccine are effective against the omicron variant, Israel claimed yesterday, as officials said the new strain did not present an “emergency”.
Nitzan Horowitz, the health minister, said there was “room for optimism” that current vaccines worked on omicron based on “initial indications”.
“The situation is under control; there is no need for panic,” Mr Horowitz said.
“We expected a new variant and we’re ready… in the next few days we will have more precise information about the vaccine’s effectiveness, but early indications show that those who are vaccinated with a vaccine which is still valid or who have a booster are most likely protected against this variant.”
The minister did nor elaborate further on the data the Israeli government had seen.
Sharon Alroy-preis, a senior Israeli health official, also sought to downplay concerns that omicron could drag the country back towards tougher Covid restrictions.
“I don’t think we’re in an emergency situation. We’re in a worrying situation and we’re taking a series of actions as quickly as possible so that we don’t reach an emergency situation,” she said.
Separately, a report by the Israeli broadcaster Channel 12 said that the Pfizer vaccine was understood to be 90 per cent effective in preventing symptomatic cases of omicron.
It was unclear where the findings by Channel 12 came from, and the Israeli government said it was not in possession of the data used in its report.
The report said that omicron was only 30 per cent more infectious than delta, which was lower than some experts had feared.
Israel is continuing its high-speed drive on vaccines, which were recently extended to include 5-to-11-year-olds.
The Jewish state was the first to close its borders to foreigners after the omicron strain was detected last week.
Naftali Bennett, the Israeli prime minister, acknowledged he had taken a “drastic” step but said it was critical to act quickly against the new strain.
“As we are still uncertain about the variant and as the [morbidity] numbers are still very low, we completely closed our borders to foreigners at this stage,” he said yesterday.
Last month Israel held a nationwide drill on responding to dangerous new variants inside a crisis centre in Jerusalem.