UK orders 114 million additional COVID jabs amid growing cases of Omicron variant: Report

As the cases of Omicron variant is rising in the United Kingdom, the government has inked contracts to purchase 114 million additional COVID vaccine jabs for the years 2022 and 2023. Health Secretary Sajid Javid said the contracts, which include 60 million Moderna vaccine doses and 54 million Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines, will allow the government some time to assess the new variant, reported Sky News on Thursday.

Stressing that vaccines still remains the best line of defence, he reiterated that the additional vaccines will ensure that the country has enough dosages for the long term. 

The announcement came as the number of cases of the new Omicron strain in the UK rose to 32 on Wednesday, December 1. The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has confirmed nine new cases in England and one in Scotland. The variant has now been detected in the East Midlands, East of England, London, the South East, and the North West, according to the UKHSA. The cases found in Scotland are in Lanarkshire and Greater Glasgow, it added. 

Time gap between second dosages and booster shots will be reduced: Javid

Earlier this week, the government declared that all adults will be offered a COVID-19 booster doge as part of a far-reaching expansion of the vaccination programme amid concern over the spread of the new variant. The health secretary stated that the time gap between second dosages and booster shots will be reduced from six to three months.

He further announced that youngsters aged between 12 to 15 years will also be inoculated with the second dose after a gap of three months. In addition, extremely immunocompromised persons will be able to receive an additional booster dose this winter, Javid added as reported by the Sky News.

It should be mentioned here that the new variant has been categorised as a "variant of concern" by the World Health Organization. It has also alarmed scientists and the health community because of its complicated genetic sequence. Besides, it is also the most potent type of the SARS-CoV-2 variation found to date. The variant's protein spike has more than 50 mutations, including more than 30 on the spike protein, making it far more transmissible than the Delta version.

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