U.K. allows booster jab after 3 months of second jab, England makes wearing face mask mandatory on public transport
In the wake of recently found Omicron variant of Coronavirus (COVID-19) in South Africa, the Government of United Kingdom (U.K.) has announced that all adults can now get their booster jab after 3 months of their second jab.
The announcement comes after U.K. reported 11 cases of the Omicron Variant. Earlier, booster jab was available for people over 40 years of age and for those who were above 16 years of age with underlying health conditions. They were eligible for the booster jab after 6 months of their second jab.
Omicron has a higher re-infection risk. But scientists say it will take about 3 weeks before it is known how the variant impacts on the effectiveness of vaccines. The Government will review the situation after 3 weeks and if it emerges that Omicron is no more dangerous than the Delta variant, then it won’t keep measures in place for a day longer than necessary.
The Secretary of State for Health & Social Care – Sajid Javid said that he had accepted the move in Parliament, hours after the U.K.’s advisory body on vaccinations recommended it.
Taking it to twitter, Sajid Javid tweeted,
We are boosting our booster rollout & I've seen lots of people getting their jab @GSTTnhs today.
— Sajid Javid (@sajidjavid) November 29, 2021
I want to thank everyone working to get jabs in arms – we will set out more details of the expanded rollout in the coming days. pic.twitter.com/LnrR5bGUS3
England has once again made face coverings mandatory on public transport, shops, shopping centres, posts offices, banks, hairdressers and food takeaways. People arriving in the U.K. from abroad will now also have to take a PCR test and self-isolate until they receive a negative result. Another change, which has already come into effect, requires all contacts of suspected Omicron cases to self-isolate for 10 days, even if they are fully vaccinated.
Speaking about Omicron, Javid said, “We’ve always known that a worrying new variant could be a threat to the progress that we’ve made as a nation. We’re learning more about this new variant all the time, but the latest indication is that it spreads very rapidly.”
The U.K. has so far administered 17 million booster shots, inoculating 31% of its over-12 population. U.K. has become the first country to allow booster jab in 3 months. All the other countries allow the booster jab after 6 months of second jab. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), only 7.5% of people in low-income countries have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.
Meanwhile, the opposition has criticized the Prime Minister of U.K. -Boris Johnson for its lack of mitigation measures and for not pressing to send doses to poorer nations.
