UK: Boris Johnson says 90% patients in ICUs haven't been boosted against COVID-19

Amid the Omicron surge in the United Kingdom, Prime Minister Boris Johnson has claimed that nearly 90% of the patients who have been admitted to the intensive care units (ICUs) with COVID-19 infection had not received their booster shot. As per Sky News, the Prime Minister while speaking to the reporters said that approximately 2.4 million qualified double-vaccinated individuals have yet to take the offer of the COVID booster jab and that the vast majority of patients in critical COVID related hospitalisations fall into this category.    

PM Johnson said, "I'm sorry to say this but the overwhelming majority of people who are currently ending up in intensive care in our hospitals are people who are not boosted", Sputnik reported. Further, he stressed that if currently the citizens do not get vaccinated, then there would be eight times more hospital admits. 

Although there are no official NHS data on the vaccination status of patients in ICUs, however, recent research from the Intensive Care National Audit and Research Centre indicates that the vast majority of people in ICUs in London who contracted COVID last month were not inoculated. 

PM Boris Johnson urges citizens to get vaccinated

Earlier this month, Prime Minister Johnson had highlighted concerns about the new Omicron strain and used the opportunity to urge citizens to obtain the third COVID booster jab as soon as possible. Since then, the number of people who have received the vaccine has increased to about 33 million, with one million vaccinations delivered in a single day shortly before Christmas. 

Stressing on the vaccination campaign's effectiveness and the maximum British population having already been vaccinated, he said that no further limitations will be imposed until 2022. The PM did agree, however, that the incidence of coronavirus illnesses and hospitalisations is on the rise, Sky News reported. He further highlighted that the Omicron strain is still causing serious issues in the nation, even though it is clearly milder than the Delta.  

Meanwhile, Sajid Javid, the UK's Health Secretary, indicated earlier this week that there will be no additional restrictions in England before the New Year, allowing New Year's Eve festivities to go ahead as planned. This announcement came despite recent COVID infection rates in the UK reaching new highs, with rates continuously above 90,000 throughout the Christmas season. Further, as per Worldometers, over 12,559,926 individuals have been infected with coronavirus, and over 148,089 people have died as a result of the disease. 

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