Sajid Javid has warned that the UK is “once again in a race between the vaccine and the virus”.
The health secretary told Sky News that cases of omicron are growing at a “phenomenal rate”, which is why the government is expanding the booster programme “to a level never seen before in this country”.
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The target of giving every adult a booster jab has been brought forward to the end of this month as Boris Johnson warned that the UK could be set to face an omicron “tidal wave” that could cause “very many deaths”.
He said yesterday that everyone eligible aged 18 and over in England will have the chance to get their booster before the new year with the “emergency operation” being assisted by 42 military planning teams deployed across every region to set up additional vaccine sites.
It comes as the spread of the new variant of coronavirus continues to accelerate rapidly, with a further 1,239 omicron cases having been recorded in the UK as of today – an increase of 65 per cent on the day before.