Boosters for over-30s as ‘race’ to limit omicron stepped up

COVID booster jabs will be offered to everyone aged 30 and over from tomorrow as the Government steps up efforts to vaccinate “as many people as possible” before Christmas.

In a push to protect millions more from the omicron variant, the NHS has announced that the booster will be available to everyone aged 30 to 39 three months after their second dose.

More age groups are expected to be included in the coming weeks, with ministers determined to “massively expedite” the booster rollout.

The Sunday Telegraph understands that several billion pounds extra is to be invested in expanding the rollout.

Data show that a third jab gives up to 75 per cent protection against infection from omicron, as well as decreasing the chances of severe illness if infected.

It comes as government modellers warned that the new variant could cause more hospitalisations and deaths than last year’s peak, despite Plan B restrictions of mask-wearing and working from home being imposed.

Yesterday the UK recorded 633 omicron cases, the biggest daily increase since the variant was detected last month. The confirmed number of cases for the country stands at 1,898.

The Government last night said it wanted to speed up the booster programme, with ministers considering calling in more military medics to help administer jabs. A source said: “We’re looking at what we can do to massively expedite the booster programme.

“We are trying to get as many people a booster before Christmas as physically possible. It doesn’t solve everything but it obviously would slow things down.” Extending the top-up jabs to those 30 and over, which follows updated advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, means another 3.5 million people will be eligible from tomorrow with the rest of the 7.5million people in that age range qualifying in the coming weeks.

Sajid Javid, the Health Secretary, said: “We are now expanding the offer to over-30s – so please come forward as quickly as possible to get boosted and help our country get ahead in this race with the variant.”