British prime minister Boris Johnson said that the government is planning to offer booster jabs to everyone over the age of 18 by the end of January.
During a briefing on Tuesday, the prime minister said the rollout of the booster programme will go in age order, and that over 1,500 community pharmacy sites in England will be offering the jabs.
Johnson said “temporary vaccine centres will be popping up like christmas trees” and around 400 military personnel will be helping with the rollout.
BYPASS THE CENSORS
Sign up to get unfiltered news delivered straight to your inbox.
You can unsubscribe any time. By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use
Sky News reports: The PM added that the chance of another lockdown being enforced is “extremely unlikely”, but that ministers will keep “everything under review”.
It comes a day after Health Secretary Sajid Javid confirmed that all adults will be offered a COVID-19 booster vaccine as part of a reaching expansion of the jabs programme to deal with the potential impact of the new Omicron variant.
The UK’s vaccine advisory body – the Joint Committee on Vaccine and Immunisation (JCVI) – recommended:
• Booster jabs for everybody over the age of 18
• Shortening the gap between a second jab and a booster from six months to three months
• Giving a second jab to children aged between 12 and 15 – again after no less than three months
• Severely immunosuppressed people given access to another booster – meaning for some, a fourth dose this winter
• Boosters consisting of either a Pfizer vaccine or a half dose of the Moderna jab
Mr Javid said the government will be taking on board all of the recommendations “in full”.
The move will see millions more people in the UK become eligible for a third booster dose and has come in the wake of growing international concern about the new variant.
Following on from Boris Johnson’s speech, NHS chief executive Amanda Pritchard announced that GPs are to be paid up to £30 per jab during the booster roll out.
According to inews :Ms Pritchard said hat the payment GPs receive for administering a Covid jab is to be increased from £12.58 a shot to £15 Monday to Saturday and £20 on Sundays.
GPs will also be given £30 to offer people who are housebound in their homes as an extra incentive, the NHS boss revealed.
She said: “We will ensure that they are properly rewarded for their efforts, particularly when they take time to visit vulnerable housebound patients who can’t travel to vaccination sites.”
Ms Pritchard also added the NHS is looking at whether it can “safely reduce” or “even eliminate” the 15-minute wait time after a jab – put in place in case people have an allergic reaction – in a bid to increase the number of people able to get a vaccines every day in “smaller sites like pharmacies”.
She added that she was aiming to free up capacity to allow hospitals, GPs and other services to administer more booster jabs.
