Prime Minister announces ‘Omicron Emergency Boost’ programme

The vaccination programme

Everyone eligible aged 18 and over in England will be able to get a covid booster jab before the New Year, Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced tonight (December 12).

Addressing the nation the PM spoke of facing an emergency in the battle with the new variant, Omicron, and revealed 42 military planning teams will be drafted in across every region, standing up additional vaccine sites and mobile units.

Hours will also be extended so clinics are open 7 days a week, with more appointments early in the morning, in the evening, and at weekends. Thousands more volunteer vaccinators will also be trained for the booster roll-out – named as the Omicron Emergency Boost by the PM.

PM Boris Johnson

From tomorrow adults over 30 will be able to book online, and all over 18s from Wednesday.

The PM said: “It will mean some other appointments will need to be postponed until the New Year. But if we don’t do this now, the wave of Omicron could be so big that cancellations and disruptions, like the loss of cancer appointments, would be even greater next year.

“And I know the pressures on everyone in our NHS– from our GPs, doctors and nurses to our porters – all of whom have worked incredibly hard and we thank them for the amazing job they have done.

“But I say directly to those of you on the front line, I must ask you to make another extraordinary effort now, so we can protect you and your colleagues – and above all your patients – from even greater pressures next year.”

From tomorrow the booster will be available to every adult over 18 who has had a second dose of the vaccine at least three months ago.

The NHS Booking System will be open for these younger age groups from Wednesday,

The PM added: “Earlier today, the UK’s four Chief Medical Officers raised the Covid Alert level to 4, its second highest level, because of the evidence that Omicron is doubling here in the UK every two to three days.

“We know from bitter experience how these exponential curves develop. No-one should be in any doubt: there is a tidal wave of Omicron coming, and I’m afraid it is now clear that two doses of vaccine are simply not enough to give the level of protection we all need.

But the good news is that our scientists are confident that with a third dose– a booster dose – we can all bring our level of protection back up.

“And I know there will be some people watching who will be asking whether Omicron is less severe than previous variants, and whether we really need to go out and get that booster.

“And the answer is yes we do. Do not make the mistake of thinking Omicron can’t hurt you; can’t make you and your loved ones seriously ill. We’ve already seen hospitalisations doubling in a week in South Africa. And we have patients with Omicron in hospital here in the UK right now.

“At this point our scientists cannot say that Omicron is less severe, and even if that proved to be true, we already know it is so much more transmissible, that a wave of Omicron through a population that was not boosted would risk a level of hospitalisation that could overwhelm our NHS and lead sadly to very many deaths.

“So we must act now.”

Thanet’s vaccination centre at Saga (Photo KCHT)

The GP hub at Saga is open for walk-ins and appointments every Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday until December 22 from 9am-5pm.

Vaccines are Pfizer or Moderna – including boosters

If you need to have the AstraZeneca vaccine for for medical reasons, or you are still waiting for your second dose, please email [email protected] for information on your nearest clinic.

Work from home advice returns from tomorrow with covid passport vote this week

44 Comments

  1. Let’s hope the PM hasn’t left it all too late. It would be nice to have a fairly “normal” Christmas this year.

    • Well, who on earth would listen to this cretinous pile of goo & actually cancel their plans like they did a year back, after the last couple of weeks?

  2. Yep, everyone get your boosters then another variant will no doubt come along in a few months which these vaccines won’t protect us from so we’ll all have to go out and get another one or our freedoms will be threatened.

    Covid is likely to be around for centuries and constantly mutating. It’s now time to live with it. The only reason the NHS is at risk of being overwhelmed is due to funding not keeping up with population growth. There are far fewer Covid patients in hospital now than last year.

    • The reason why it is overwhelmed is because of nearly two years of total stupidity in cancelling operations, leaving people with severe illnesses/problems waiting & GP’s hiding away refusing to see people due to throwing everything at Covid-leaving millions to die or live in severe pain actual problems-all for something most people don’t know they have got or is the same as a cold or flu.

    • There are far fewer covid patients precisely because the vaccines have had an effect against the existing strains of the virus.
      Now there’s a new, far mire contagious strain, and new intervention needs to take place.
      Otherwise the NHS will be overwhelmed.
      I think the PM is putting all his trust in the boost because he doesn’t want to introduce more dramatic measures such as closing venues and so on.
      The more reasonable most if us are, the less likely it is that lockdown will be imposed.
      But time will tell.

      • Not forgetting of course that many of the truly vulnerable have been killed off already ( so fewer left for the virus to kill) and huge numbers of people have the best protection available – natural antibodies as a result of their immune system response- all of which will make the virus less effective.
        The vaccines no doubt have benefit and should be available to all who wish to have them. However the degree of that benefit is debatable given the number being given and the rate at which we’re told the effect reduces.

  3. Does BO JO think the people doing the vaccines are robots? these people have been non stop for a year now and no doubt suffering burn out, he spouts what he wants without a care of how its going to happen.the jabs still cannot be taken unless the last one was 3 months ago so how can you suddenly change how many can have it, you can only work at same level as what went on previous

  4. Not logical is it? Planned perpetual experimental jabs (with no long term safety data and legal liability for damage waived for big pharma involved) for a virus that will be around, and mutate for ever. Talk about overloading your body with these synthetic drugs!. No thought on the huge amount of excess deaths and increased illnesses through all these restrictions. No education on how to stay healthy and protect your own innate immune system, or safe treatments that actually work. No thought given to children and their education and well-being, or to the mental health crises egged on by the public health/government/opposition’s fear messages. No thought given to the many independent businesses now struggling with the deliberate uncertainty as to whether future lockdowns will ruin Christmas and their livelihoods. This wouldn’t happen in a functional world where numerous experts wouldn’t be censored and the mainstream media weren’t bought to merely trot out the puppet government/and opposition’s fear control messages and skewed dodgy statistics. Why on earth would you trust any of these people with your health or sanity? Good news is that more and more appear to be waking up on this completely illogical situation. Question, research, trust your own intuition and look after your own health.

    • I think it’s better for real scientists to do the research on my behalf, as my science education stopped when I was about 15.

      • It isn’t for your benefit. People should be able to weigh up the risk to them from something that majority of people don’t even know they have, or have the same symptoms as a heavy cold or winter bug that have been around forever.

        This is going to keep happening over & over with everything being thrown at the latest sore throat strain that goes for the elderly, obese & serious health conditions-which means the waiting lists are going to keep growing, more people are going to die from treatable conditions or requiring surgery they cannot get & many cannot even see a doctor to get a diagnosis. Your liberties will also keep getting taken away.

        The government have said about ten people are in hospital with Omicron-not tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands & you can bet most if not all of them are the elderly, obese or have other health problems & most if not all would have ended up there Omicron or not.

          • If that was the case then they wouldn’t hide trial information, manipulate it, stop trials when negative effects start to happen & mark those who die or drop out from side effects as non-compliant, refuse to publish it in a timely fashion in medical journals-where it can be peer reviewed etc-as they do for both vaccines & medicines. Their interest is money over safety. The Opioid Epidemic is due to lies told by pharmaceutical companies in the 1990’s.

          • Are you being serious Marva? They stop the trials & only declare the positive data. Any deaths or people leaving due to ill health are declared as non compliant & not counted, then don’t publish the full trial data for reviews-meaning the regulators don’t see it & neither do their peer reviewers.

            I would recommend two books-Bad Pharma by Dr Ben Goldacre & Pharmageddon by Dr David Healy-very eye opening as to how the pharmaceutical industry operates.

        • And as ever the language is disingenuous, in hospital with omicron, not in hospital because of omnicron, the same with the death of some poor soull. Lots of suggestion in the statements but no detail.
          South african countries have recorded no deaths and have had it much longer and have healthcare systems considered to be well below the standard of the nhs, how much longer are we to be led by the nose.

          • Marva, there has been suggestions that pfizer stopped trials when they recorded , what would in normal times be sufficiently numerous and serious to halt the programme and start again, adverse reactions to the vaccines being tested.
            These same vaccines are now in use, it would be sensible to assume that at some level it has been decided that the number of adverse reactions is sufficiently small to be ignored in relation to the benefits the vaccine offer.
            As to how true the stories circulating are , will no doubt never be known by the likes of the general public. Pfizer of course are more than happy with the success of their vaccine , alledgedly $36 billion and counting.

    • Democrat, and anyone who doubts the vaccine, every year I have a ‘Flu jab, why? Because it mutates into a different virus thats why! All viruses will mutate, and this one is no different except its more lethal! Yes, it seems humanity may well be condemned to being vaccinated every year, just like the ‘Flu jab, so we owe it to each other to get jabbed, and wear a mask!

      One third of people with the virus don’t know they have it, so if they are dumb enough not to get jabbed, and worse fail to wear a mask, they will be spreading this deadly disease around, and possibly killing people like me who are “clinically extremely vulnerable”, or is that what they perversely like doing!

      • Very easy to check out the VAERS official government systems recording about 1 to 10 per cent of the serious side effects and deaths from the MHRA (UK), EMA (Europe), CDC (US) plus other sites across the world. So many scientists now number crunching these official sites if you want to look. It truly is a crime against humanity from the results revealed here.

        • So, so called Democrat, nearly 150,000 people have died in the UK due to Covid, but because most people are sensible, and are now vaccinated deaths have fallen to a negligible amount! Its vaccinations that have done this! Side effects are so statistically insignificant, they can’t be numbered, so get Boostered, and wear a mask!

  5. Great effort by the vacanition teams, its really appreciated.

    Maybe offer a voluntary lateral flow test taken in the 15 minute wait time, if one person is detected at having the virus it would make a difference.
    If more than one person tests positive it would make a massive difference.

    Free lateral flow home test kits are available,Useful to test yourself before meeting family, friends etc.

    Down out local Customers and staff self test, nice to know your buddies and staff dont have the virus.

    People reading this may have the virus and be passing it on, test at home with a free test kit. see nhs regular rapid coronavirus test kits.

    Make a difference not an illness !

    • I’m certainly not going to take tests to go to non-essential places such as pubs, restaurants and concerts. If anyone feels they are vulnerable because of age/weight/lifestyle (and possibly non-vaccination/booster), then they should stay away. Slightly dfferent with shops or if visting sick/elderly relatives of course.

      • That’s a really public spirited attitude.
        As a courtesy to the community, please let us know which places you plan to visit, so we can avoid them like the plague.
        I often wondered what a “social pariah” was: well, now I know.

        • But why is a choice regarding choosing to test any worse for society than other negative lifestyle choices people make? Of PC’s examples only old age is unavoidable. The nhs had over a million admissions in a year for people with conditions directly caused or related to excess weight /obesity, yet to august 2021 the total number of hospital admissions for covid is around 300,000. Which group is placing the greatest strain on the nhs? Especially when you consider that’s its been estimated 11% of the covid admissions caught it through contact with the nhs.
          The statistics are skewed by the “died within 28 days of a positive test” , the vast majority were not killed by covid , on its own ,its shown to be easily survived by the overwhelming majority, its the combination with underlying issues that kills, so which condition really killed people? The whole covid narrative is undermining the message of being healthy as being good for people. And that instead we should expect pharmaceutical and medical intervention to step in a cure everything , however easily many conditions may be.
          Looked at from a different perspective their are huge numbers of social pariahs as you put it.

        • Sadly, with even the booster only being an estimated 75% effective, the “social pariahs” should be the frail and elderly at this present time (I wouldn’t like to see my own mother going anywhere right now, and she’ll be spending Christmas on her own). It would be a bit like crossing a road, and knowing that 1 out of 4 times they’re likely to be knocked over by a bus. If I thought I was in any real danger, I’d stay away from those places too.

      • Surely a concert for hours with hundreds or thousands on top of each spitting without masks on is far more dangerous than going to a shop for 10-15 minutes with people wearing masks & not having prolonged contact with anybody? Are we just picking the the bits that suit? That your vulnerable mother still hasn’t had what she was promised shows you what a farce all this is.

        • Of course a concert is more dangerous, but my point is that they’re not essential, so if anyone feels vulnerable they can stay away. A bit different from the local Co-Op.

          Yes, the fact that my housebound elderly mother hasn’t received her booster OR her flu jab is a discrace. The NHS should be ashamed of prioritising healthy 30 year olds because they’re able to walk in.

          • Incidentally, I’m going to a concert in a small venue on Saturday, and their current policy is to only allow in those with Covid passes. As I don’t have a smartphone, I requested a Covid Pass letter, which arrived today: trouble is, it only lists two jabs (I had my booster around 6 weeks ago), and the “experts” are now saying that having 2 jabs is almost useless! Covid Passes may or may not be the way forward, but if so they need to get it right.

          • Have you tried your local MP? This is frankly as you say a disgrace. The most vulnerable should always get top priority.

          • Yes, another issue-you can follow all the rules. But if there is a cock-up of some description then you cannot board the plane as many found recently, attend that concert, go into that restaurant etc. Also those of us without smartphones etc are discriminated against-just like the elderly who don;t have Skype-many likely don’t even have a computer or any idea how to use one & so cannot do virtual video-conferencing with their GP.

  6. It gladdens ones heart to know that there are so many experts here in Thanet, all willing and able to give us their considered views on omicron, and so much more. Makes you wonder how Thanet became the pickle it now presents to the outside world. There was I, worrying unnecessarily, about what is a minor bit of flu, when all the time all those 150.000 people posted as dead, were either too old, too fat, or would have died anyway. Perhaps some of them have gone on a long holiday and have been mislaid. I hope so, because I have known people who have died and it was not painless or serene for them. Many have been terrified and their deaths indiscriminate.
    When I want to hear sanctimonious bunkum from a bunch of thoughtless anti vaxxers and libertines, I will ask for it.

    • Most, not all-if you don’t like facts then don’t read them-it is after all an open comments section & not everybody is going to have the same view as you.

      Also don’t forget whether or not there were other health problems that may have been the main cause of death, or a contributory factor, those deaths have been recorded as Covid-so it has no doubt claimed many less lives.

      Even if you take the 150k figure as gospel then out of a population of nearly 70 million, with the majority of deaths being of life expectancy age & those with other health issues it is probably below what you would expect & doubt less than the doomsday numbers predicted by the government/media.

    • The only figure that really counts is the number of excess deaths, take that over any period you want and compare it to past years. Whilst it sounds overly harsh many of those whose deaths have been attributed to covid werepeople for whom covid was the last straw. The reported increase of deaths at home ( arround 75,000) is another area that needs looking into and in the years ahead the lives lost as a result of delayed diagnosis and treatment will also provide further insight into what really had the most detrimental effect during covid.

    • In real world terms from a purely scientific/statistical standpoint of a population of around 70 million, rather than an emotional one it is. It might sound harsh or cruel-but it isn’t.

Comments are closed.