The decisions of the 25 per cent of over-70s who have still not had their booster jab will “make all the difference” to the kind of festive season Britain enjoys this year, after its effective cancellation last year, he said.
Boris Johnson has warned of a “blizzard from the east” that could derail his hopes for a Christmas free of disruption from coronavirus restrictions.
The prime minister said there was nothing in the data now to suggest the UK should move to the government’s Plan B, involving compulsory face masks, advice to work from home and Covid vaccine passports for crowded venues.
But he warned that some areas of Europe were now seeing a “storm of infection” that could spread across the Channel to Britain.
As experts gave the go-ahead for booster jabs for over-40s and second vaccine shots for 16- and 17-year-olds, Mr Johnson urged everybody to take up the offer of inoculation as soon as possible to ward off the danger of new restrictions.
Asked whether he could guarantee a normal Christmas season, Mr Johnson said: “We don’t see anything in the data at the moment to suggest that we need to go to plan B. We’re sticking with with Plan A.
“But what we certainly have got to recognise is that there is a storm of infection out there in parts of Europe. You can see those numbers ticking up very sharply in some of our continental friends.
“And we’ve just got to recognise that there is always a risk that a blizzard could come from the east again as the months get colder. The best protection for our country is for everybody to come forward and get their booster.”
Mr Johnson said it was “very good news” that the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation had authorised an extension of the booster scheme.
Some 12.6 million people have received a booster jab in the UK so far. Those aged over 40 will be invited to receive a third dose of either Pfizer or Moderna in the coming weeks, the government said, but only if six months have passed since their second jab was administered.
While experts say vaccine effectiveness against death or serious illness, including hospital admission, remains high for several months after completing the primary course, researchers have seen greater waning in older adults and those with underlying medical conditions compared with young, healthy adults.
However, Professor Jonathan Van-Tam, deputy chief medical officer for England, said the “waning signal” after two vaccine doses is also starting to show in those aged 40 to 49, adding that this is why the JCVI has “acted decisively” in extending the booster jab rollout.
Research from the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has shown that two weeks after receiving a booster dose, protection against symptomatic infection was 93.1 per cent among those who had initially received Oxford-AstraZeneca, and 94.0 per cent for Pfizer-BioNTech jab.
In the light of these findings, the prime minister said: “So the message is ‘Anybody over 70, come forward and get your booster. Anybody over 50, come forward to get your booster. Now, in the next week or so, anybody over 40 as well, come forward and get your booster.”
People aged under 40 might also be advised to get a booster in the future, said Professor Wei Shen Lim, chair of Covid-19 immunisation for the JCVI.
He told a Downing Street briefing: “We are looking very closely at the data all the time and should there be sufficient signal to warrant a third dose, so a booster dose for this age group, then certainly we will announce that and advise that accordingly.”
