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The rapid spread of Omicron in the United Kingdom led the government of Prime Minister Boris Johnson to raise to a level 4, on a scale of 5, the alert for the pandemic. Only this Sunday there was a record of 1,200 new cases of the variant, in an upward trend that increased the pressure on the health system and that forced the advancement of the phase of reinforcements of Covid vaccines for those over 18 years old, initially planned for a month from now.
Due to the worrying increase in hospitalizations and deaths caused by the Omicron variant, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Boris Johnson, announced on Sunday 12 December, the launch of an emergency campaign that seeks to accelerate the booster vaccination for all those over 18 years.
“I fear we are now facing an emergency in our battle with the new Omicron variant, and we must urgently strengthen our wall of vaccine protection to keep our friends and loved ones safe,” Johnson explained in a televised media address. local.
The efforts of the United Kingdom, now focused on another injection, are based on a study carried out in the territory that showed that the response of vaccines against the Omicron variant is reduced when only two doses are had; however, there is a significant increase in immunity, rising to 70% when a person receives the additional dose.
“I’m afraid it is now clear that two doses of the vaccine are simply not enough to provide the level of protection that we all need,” Johnson said, adding that infections of the variant double every two to three days.
The announcement of the new contingency plan came just hours after the British authorities had raised the alert status to Level 4 for the spread of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus. A level that had not been presented since last May.
Alert Level 1 indicates that the virus is no longer circulating; Level 2 is announced when there is a low number of cases and infections; level 3 represents a “general circulation of the virus”; Level 4, which is where the United Kingdom is currently, reflects a “high level of contagion” and, finally, Level 5, alerts of a risk of collapse of the country’s health services.
The chief medical officers of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland assured that the first investigations show that Ómicron spreads much faster than the Delta variant that is currently the dominant one in the world.
British officials fear that Ómicron will replace Delta in the UK soon.
We are a great country. We have the vaccines to protect our people.
So let’s do it. Let’s Get Boosted Now.
Get Boosted Now for yourself, for your friends and your family.
Get Boosted Now to protect our NHS, our freedoms and our way of life.https://t.co/I3YTZWggJb pic.twitter.com/JbWPGFrvma
– Boris Johnson (@BorisJohnson) December 12, 2021
Emergency campaign against Ómicron in the UK
It is expected that starting this Monday, the attention in the vaccination centers will be extended to an additional capacity, adding mobile units and military planning teams for citizen care.
“We will assist this emergency operation by deploying 42 military planning teams in all health regions, launching additional vaccination centers and mobile units. Extending opening hours so that clinics are open seven days a week, with more appointments first thing in the morning, in the afternoon and on weekends, and training thousands of volunteer vaccinators ”announced Johnson before the media, who also said that he will give more measures in the coming days.
The “national mission” of the president to supply booster vaccines in an accelerated manner applies only to citizens of England.
Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, also members of the United Kingdom, are expected to speed up their vaccination campaigns as soon as possible.
In the UK, more than 80% of people over the age of 12 have received two doses of the vaccine and about 40% of older adults have received three doses.
However, although the country has one of the highest vaccination rates in the world, giving the rest of the citizens a booster dose in a record period of three weeks will pose an immense challenge for the British country, as they will need to apply almost a million daily doses.
With AP, Reuters and Efe
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