Extra vaccine dose for thousands of people in Doncaster after new target announced

On Sunday (December 12), Boris Johnson revealed that every eligible adult in England is to be offered a top-up injection by the end of December, a month earlier than previously planned.

More than 40 per cent of adults across the UK have already had a booster vaccination, but Mr Johnson moved his target forward by a month in a bid to head off the worst effects of the Omicron variant.

Data from the UK coronavirus dashboard shows at least 3,973 people in Doncaster received a booster or third vaccine dose on December 13 and 14 – the latest available data.

That was up from 3,104 over the same two days last week.

It means 121,810 people in Doncaster had received a booster or third dose by December 14 – at least 43 per cent of people aged 12 and over, based on the number of people on the National Immunisation Management Service database.

Around 906,900 people across England received an extra dose over Monday and Tuesday, the figures show.

Speaking at a Downing Street press conference on Wednesday night, Boris Johnson said it is “absolutely vital” that everyone gets a booster jab to tackle the Omicron variant of coronavirus.

He warned that the wave of Omicron "continues to roll in" across the UK, and warned in some areas the doubling rate was now under two days.

England’s chief medical officer Professor Chris Whitty added that "records will be broken a lot" over the coming weeks.

“What we’ve got is two epidemics on top of one another – an existing Delta epidemic, roughly flat, and a very rapidly-growing Omicron epidemic on top of it,” he said.

The NHS national booking system opened up to all over 18s in England on Wednesday as the health service ramped up its vaccination programme.

Though booster jabs are available for eligible people who had their second dose at least three months ago, adults can now book in their top-up dose after just two months. Third primary doses are already offered to people with severely weakened immune systems.

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