British PM says adults to be offered booster vaccine by end of January
December 1, 2021, 2:57 pm

British PM says adults to be offered booster vaccine by end of January

Covid-Vaccination center/Pixabay

The Xinhua reported, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Tuesday that everyone over the age of 18 will be offered a booster vaccine by the end of January and another lockdown "extremely unlikely".

Speaking at a Downing Street news briefing on Tuesday, the prime minister said the rollout of booster programme will go in age order, and that there will be more than 1,500 community pharmacy sites in England offering the jabs.

Johnson said: "Temporary vaccine centers will be popping up like Christmas trees", adding that some 400 military personnel and the "jabs army of volunteers" will also help with the rollout.

Women with face masks-COVID/Pixabay

A further eight cases of the new Omicron COVID-19 variant have been identified in England, bringing the total number of confirmed cases of the SARS-CoV-2 variant known as B.1.1.529 in Britain to 22, according to the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA).

The UKHSA said it is acting to get scientific information available as quickly as possible in order to inform the right balance of interventions to prevent transmission of the new variant and protect lives.

British Health Secretary Sajid Javid told the news conference that authorities are looking to establish any link to South Africa in the new England cases, but added we have to be "realistic" and there is "likely to be community transmission" of the new variant.

Britain registered 39,716 new COVID-19 infections, bringing the total number of coronavirus cases in the country to 10,228,772, according to official figures released Tuesday.

The country also reported a further 159 coronavirus-related deaths. The total number of coronavirus-related deaths in Britain now stands at 144,969. These figures only include the deaths of people who died within 28 days of their first positive test.

More than 88 percent of people aged 12 and over in Britain have had their first dose of vaccine and more than 80 percent have received both doses, according to the latest figures. More than 31 percent have received booster jabs, or the third dose of a coronavirus vaccine.

To bring life back to normal, countries such as Britain, China, Germany, Russia and the United States have been racing against time to roll out coronavirus vaccines.

Source: xinhua

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Upon arriving to participate in the summit of the European Political Community, which includes around forty heads of state in Budapest, he said, "I look forward to sitting with the elected U.S. president and seeing how we will collectively ensure we meet challenges, including the threats from Russia and North Korea." He also noted that the strengthening of ties between Russia and North Korea poses a threat to the United States as well, according to reports from Agence France-Presse.

Before Trump's victory, Rutte expressed confidence that a united Washington would remain part of the defensive alliance, even if Trump became the 47th president of the United States. In an interview with German public broadcaster ZDF last Monday night, he stated that both Republicans and Democrats understand that NATO serves not only the security of Europe but also that of America. He added that both candidates are aware that the security of the United States is closely tied to NATO.

On Wednesday, NATO congratulated Trump on his victory but did not address the Ukrainian issue.

It is noteworthy that the relationship between the elected U.S. president and the defense alliance was not the best during his first term in the White House. Trump criticized NATO member states multiple times and even hinted at withdrawing from the alliance unless they increased their financial contributions.

Additionally, the issue of the Russian-Ukrainian war is one of the matters that complicate relations between the two sides, especially since Trump has repeatedly stated that he can end this ongoing conflict, which began in 2022, quickly. He implied that he had a peace plan between Kyiv and Moscow, while his vice president, JD Vance, revealed aspects of that plan, which stipulated Ukraine's commitment not to join NATO, thereby sending reassuring signals to the Russians.

Furthermore, many NATO member states in Europe fear that Trump might halt military aid to Ukraine after he previously criticized the U.S. for pouring funds into supporting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.