The JCVI has announced that all over 18s will be offered a booster jab and that the gap between the second dose and the booster shot will be halved from six months to three. Those with weakened immune systems will be offered a fourth shot and 12 to 15-year-olds a second dose of vaccine. These announcements are clearly in response to the Omicrom variant, which appears to spread particularly quickly. Jonathan Van-Tam likened its effect on the UK’s response to the virus to a football team going down to ten men.
In recent months, the UK — and in particular, England — has had a heavily vaccine-based strategy for living with Covid. There have been relatively few restrictions in place, with particular emphasis being put on booster shots. Today’s news suggests that this is still the UK’s preferred approach. But it remains to be seen whether this will be sufficient against the new variant. Whether it is or not will depend on two questions to which we don’t know the answer yet: what kind of disease does it cause and how effective are the current vaccines against it. It will be a nervous wait for those answers as having to impose further restrictions would take an economic and social toll.
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