NHS in race to vaccinate ahead of ‘tidal wave’ of Omicron infections

Sajid Javid, UK health secretary, has admitted that non-urgent operations in England will be postponed as the NHS gears up for a “race” between the Omicron variant of coronavirus and a massive national campaign of booster jabs.

Javid said there were 10 people in English hospitals with the Omicron variant and none had so far died, but he added that the virus was spreading at a “phenomenal rate” and the country was facing a “tidal wave” of infections.

He said that the NHS would have to beat its previous record of 770,000 jabs per day if it was to meet the objective of offering every adult a booster jab by the end of the month that prime minister Boris Johnson has said is needed to tackle the “emergency”.

In a national address on Sunday, Johnson said he had spoken to the devolved administrations “to confirm the UK government will provide additional support to accelerate vaccinations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland”.

At the end of November, in response to the new variant, the government cut the gap between second and third doses from six to three months and pledged that all adults would be offered a jab by the end of January.

The health secretary said he would be in charge of the massive logistical exercise to meet the new target. He admitted that non-urgent surgery including knee and hip replacements would be postponed until the new year, but insisted that cancer testing and treatment would be “completely unaffected” by the NHS vaccine campaign.

“This target is huge,” he said, referring to the aim of offering a booster to all adults by the new year.

“To boost this many people you are going to have to beat that every single day. There will be different types of units, mobile units, and we are asking GPs to do more, pharmacists to do more,” he told Sky News.

He said vaccine centres would be open “at least 12 hours a day” every day except Christmas Day. Military planners have also been brought in to deal with the massive logistical exercise.

David Davis, former cabinet minister, said people would ask why the booster campaign had not been ramped up earlier, but Javid insisted the NHS programme was the most successful in Europe, with 40 per cent of adults receiving an extra jab.

According to figures published on December 12, more than 23m people across the UK have had either a booster or third dose.

Javid told the BBC: “Our GPs will only be focusing on urgent needs and vaccination, and it means non-urgent appointments and elective surgeries may have to be postponed into the new year.”

From Monday people in England are being asked to work from home but ministers are said by officials to be focusing for now on the booster campaign, not additional social distancing measures.

Javid said ministers had to make tough decisions that also took account of the effect of new measures on issues such as education, mental health and loneliness.

“Our job is to listen to the best advice and take a balanced decision and understand the trade offs,” he said.

He said people should continue to plan ahead for Christmas but to use lateral flow tests to reassure themselves and loved ones that they did not have Covid symptoms.

“I’m planning to go ahead,” he said. “I think people should plan to enjoy Christmas with family friends and loved ones, but please be cautious.”

Johnson is facing a major rebellion by dozens of Tory MPs on Tuesday over the activation of his Covid “Plan B”, which includes the use of vaccine certification or lateral flow tests to access large events.

Meanwhile Simon Case, the cabinet secretary, is this week drawing up a report into allegations of illicit parties by government officials last Christmas. Johnson is also braced for a highly problematic parliamentary by-election in North Shropshire on Thursday.