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British Prime Minister Boris Johnson encouraged citizens to complete their vaccination schedule or receive the booster dose against Covid-19, when the United Kingdom exceeds 150,000 deaths due to this disease. The country is going through a new spike in infections, more pronounced than in previous waves.
“The coronavirus has taken a terrible price in our country and today the number of registered deaths has reached 150,000,” British Prime Minister Boris Johnson reported in a statement.
The announcement comes at a time when the country is going through a new wave of infections. Some numbers that, although they have decreased this week with 146,390 infections by Covid-19, continue to worry the Government.
So Johnson also made a call from his Twitter account to the public to complete their vaccination schedule and to apply the booster dose.
“Our way out of this pandemic is for everyone to receive their booster or their first or second dose, if they have not already done so,” said the president.
In the UK, according to figures from Our World in Data, around 70% of the population is fully vaccinated. And booster drugs have already been applied to 61% of people over 12 years of age.
Although infections have seen a more pronounced increase than in previous waves, due in large part to the Omicron variant, deaths have advanced less quickly. What the Government attributes to vaccination. However, the number of deaths due to Covid-19 increased 38% compared to last week.
With these figures, the accumulated deaths in the United Kingdom is the second highest in the European continent, surpassed only by Russia. And the death rate in the country is 7% higher than the European Union average.
Hospital saturation: one more concern across the United Kingdom
On Thursday the UK reported that 18,454 people were hospitalized for Covid-19. A figure that doubled the data of two weeks ago.
A panorama that is being difficult to contain by health personnel who have been themselves affected by infections by the Omicron variant.
According to the National Health Service, on January 2, in England alone, more than 39,000 health personnel have been unable to work for reasons related to Covid-19.
The situation has led the government to transfer the military to hospitals to provide aid to doctors and nurses.
Government medical advisers say ‘no’ to a fourth vaccine
Despite the rise in infections, the United Kingdom’s Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunization (JCVI) has denied the need for a fourth vaccine. According to them, the original doses together with the booster are sufficient to protect against the virus.
Therefore, they advise against applying them to residents of nursing homes and people over 80 years of age.
The data also show that for people over 65 the protection against hospitalizations is 90% after three months of having received the booster dose.
While for a serious illness it falls by 70% after three months of receiving the two doses of the vaccine, and to 50% six months later.
With AFP, AP and EFE
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