Get the booster jab to save Christmas, Britons urged as country faces Covid ‘crunch point’

The NHS’s most senior doctor has urged those eligible for Covid-19 booster jabs to “take up the offer” in order to “protect the freedom and Christmas that we have all earned”.

Writing in The Telegraph, Prof Stephen Powis, the medical director of NHS England, says that “the freedom we now all enjoy” was a direct result of the willingness of patients to come forward for jabs.

His warning that the country is at a “crunch point” comes amid concern in the Government over the speed of the booster rollout, as well as rising hospitalisations.

Scientists have said that uptake of the booster, or third jab, was crucial in determining whether the UK would need to switch to a “Plan B” involving compulsory mask-wearing and a return to at-home working.

Under a potential “Plan C”, mixing with people from other households could also once again be banned, under measures that have been discussed by officials.

On Saturday, Boris Johnson said: “Vaccines are our way through this winter. We’ve made phenomenal progress, but our job isn’t finished yet, and we know that vaccine protection can drop after six months.”

In an article written after the Prime Minister redeployed Emily Lawson, the head of his new delivery unit, back to the health service to resume responsibility for the rollout, Prof Powis stated: “This time last year, the whole country was bracing itself for another lockdown.

“There were more than 6,800 people in hospital with Covid, and cases and admissions were rising at an alarming rate. Fast forward to today and cases are rising again, with 6,405 people in hospital with Covid going into this weekend.”

Last week, it emerged that fewer than four million of the 8.5 million at-risk people who had a second jab at least six months ago had received their third dose.

Meanwhile, British people who want a Christmas holiday abroad were being advised to get a third jab because countries may impose stricter definitions of what constitutes being fully vaccinated.

From November 1, Israel will only admit to their country those people who are either still within six months of their second jab or those who have a third booster jab if those six months have elapsed.

About 2.2 million people each week will become eligible for a booster jab because six months will have elapsed since their second jab, the time period when efficacy of the vaccine begins to wane.

Paul Charles, a travel expert, believes many countries will soon insist all Britons have had three vaccines before being let in.

“We are now at the stage where we are well over six months since the first British people had their jabs. You’ve got to get a booster because what countries are doing is looking to ‘de-risk’ entry,” he said.

“It might well end up being that if you want to travel at Christmas, you’ve got to have had the booster. They want to make sure that anybody entering is vaccinated with all the latest possible jabs.”