PM to green light Covid passports and booster vaccine to stop winter lockdown – but Gov wants to EXTEND powers
BORIS Johnson will next week unveil a “toolbox” of contingency measures to see off a winter lockdown and keep Britain open, The Sun can reveal. Ministers will give the go-ahead to vaccine booster shots, Covid passports for clubs and stadiums and the biggest flu jab rollout in history to ease pressure on the NHS. An […]
BORIS Johnson will next week unveil a “toolbox” of contingency measures to see off a winter lockdown and keep Britain open, The Sun can reveal.
Ministers will give the go-ahead to vaccine booster shots, Covid passports for clubs and stadiums and the biggest flu jab rollout in history to ease pressure on the NHS.
An advertising blitz will urge the most vulnerable to get a third Covid jab and a flu shot to try to stop hospitals being overwhelmed if cases keep rising.
The PM is privately vowing another lockdown is out of the question and has ordered the Government to do everything possible to avoid future restrictions.
He will stress it is time to “learn to live with Covid forever” but wants to see the hated Coronavirus Act 2020 renewed as a precaution.
The emergency powers within it expire at the end of this month, so the PM will force a vote on extending them for another six months.
Dozens of Tory MPs are opposed to the move, with one MP branding renewals a “tyranny”.
Allies of the PM say the jabs rollout means this winter will be “different” but ministers refuse to rule out a return to some restrictions if the NHS looks under stress.
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It is hoped the double shot whammy will keep pressure on the health service to within seasonal norms — despite hospital admissions steadily ticking up
Figures published last night reveal that 8,085 Brits are in hospital with Covid — a six-month high.
The number has gone up by six per cent in a week and is at its highest since early March.
However, it is still well below the second peak in January when 39,254 were in hospital — the most since the pandemic began.
Hospital numbers have been rising slowly since the third wave of the virus began in May.
A key ally of the PM told The Sun last night: “The strength of our vaccination programme has changed how we tackle and live with this virus.
“It’s going to be different this year.
“We will have the booster programme to give the most vulnerable an extra shot of protection and the highest number of people yet will be offered a flu jab.”
Yesterday Health Secretary Sajid Javid said he felt sure the vaccine booster programme would start before the end of this month.
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has said the Pfizer and AstraZeneca jabs are safe to use as boosters.
BOX OF TOOLS
The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) has yet to give its advice to ministers.
Mr Javid said yesterday: “We are heading towards our booster programme, so the news from the MHRA today is welcome.
“But also I want to wait for the final opinion of the JCVI. I’m confident our booster programme will start later this month but I’m still awaiting the final advice.”
Leading lockdown sceptic Sir Iain Duncan Smith warned that the economy would “drop to the levels of the Third World” if the UK is forced into a third lockdown.
He told The Sun: “The only ‘toolbox’ we need is a crystal clear commitment never to shut down this country again.
“Boris promised we are on a road out and there can be no turning back.
“Unless the toolbox means no lockdowns ever again, frankly the Government will be a box of tools.”
Meanwhile, ministers said last night that NHS staff could be assigned office jobs if they refuse to get a Covid jab as they floated proposals to make them mandatory.
Care minister Helen Whately said: “If you don’t want to get vaccinated, how can it be right to continue to look after people who are really vulnerable from Covid?”
‘NEVER SHUT DOWN AGAIN’
Vaccination will become a legal requirement for care home staff from November and it could be widened to cover everyone who comes into contact with patients.
But unions warned staff will walk out, worsening shortages, if colleagues are compelled to be jabbed.
Sara Gorton, of Unison, said: “The key to convincing hesitant staff is persuasion, not force.”
So far 88 per cent of NHS staff have been double-jabbed and 92 per cent have had one dose — higher rates than the public.
But only 69 per cent of care workers have been double-jabbed with 82 per cent on one dose — lower than the public.
Kid cases in a surge
COVID cases shot up in schoolkids when term started last week — but they are still stable overall.
Figures show the infection rate in ten to 19-year-olds in England surged 42 per cent in the seven days to 681 per 100,000 people.
The UK yesterday recorded 38,013 more cases and another 167 deaths.
Covid-19 vaccinations are estimated to have directly averted 112,300 deaths in England, according to data from Public Health England and Cambridge University.