The vaccination campaign has allowed England to maintain its current level of coronavirus controls, the Prime Minister has said this morning
Boris Johnson told the press at a visit this morning to a vaccination centre that he “cannot stress too much” how important it is to get a booster jab against Covid
He says there were 2.4 million eligible double-jabbed people who were yet to take up the offer of a booster telling reporters:
“I’m sorry to say this but the overwhelming majority of people who are currently ending up in intensive care in our hospitals are people who are not boosted.
“I’ve talked to doctors who say the numbers are running up to 90% of people in intensive care, who are not boosted.
“If you’re not vaccinated, you’re eight times more likely to get into hospital altogether.
“So it’s a great thing to do. It’s very, very important. Get boosted for yourself, and enjoy new year sensibly and cautiously.”
Asked about reports of people travelling across the border from Wales and Scotland into England to celebrate, he tells reporters: “I think everybody should enjoy New Year but in a cautious and sensible way.
“Take a test, ventilation, think about others – but above all, get a booster.”
Asked why he has acted differently to the leaders of the devolved nations in the UK, Johnson says the balance of the risks has been looked at and again says boosters have made a difference.
“We’re looking at the data and what we’re seeing is that we’ve got cases certainly going up, we’ve got a lot of cases of Omicron, but on the other hand we can see the data about the relative mildness of Omicron and what we can also see is the very, very clear effect of getting those jabs,” he says.
