Fourth Covid jabs will be rolled out for over-75s and vulnerable in weeks as Boris Johnson prepares to outline plans for Britain to live with virus
- Over-72 and vulnerable people set to have fourth Covid jabs in the coming weeks
- All Covid curbs including legal self-isolation set to end in England from Thursday
- PM will also announce a timetable to end free lateral flow and PCR Covid tests
Vulnerable people and over-75s are set to receive their fourth covid jabs in the coming weeks as Boris Johnson is set to declare Thursday is Covid Freedom Day with all curbs – including legal self-isolation – to end in England.
It has been six months since many received their last jab in late 2021.
Future vaccinations will be organised in a similar way to the annual flu programme and will focus on the elderly and immunosuppressed people.
The Government will keep some Covid tracking systems so it can provide a quick response if a more dangerous variant develops.
Vulnerable people and over-75s are set to receive their fourth covid jabs. Pictured: Margaret Keenan, 90, the first patient in the UK to receive the Covid vaccine on December 8, 2020
Prime Minister Boris Johnson will this week do away with all Covid curbs in England
The Joint Committee on Vaccinations and Immunisations (JCVI) will make decisions about booster campaigns in future.
This week Boris Johnson will this week do away with the legal duty to self-isolate if you test positive or are in close contact with someone who has Covid.
The power to impose lockdowns will also shift to local authorities.
The PM will give an upbeat assessment as he unveils his ‘Living with Covid Plan’ tomorrow, insisting vaccines and new treatments can be relied upon to keep the public safe.
As cases continue to tumble – down 25 per cent week-on-week – Mr Johnson is also announcing a timetable to end free lateral flow and PCR tests which are costing the taxpayer £2billion a week.
In a compromise between the Treasury and Department of Health, free tests are still likely to be available for more vulnerable and older age groups.
The Prime Minister said: ‘Covid will not suddenly disappear, and we need to learn to live with this virus and continue to protect ourselves without restricting our freedoms.
What is the Living With Covid plan?
The plan is expected to focus on:
- Removing regulations and requirements while emphasising public health advice, in line with long standing methods of managing a range of infectious diseases
- Protecting the vulnerable through pharmaceutical interventions and testing, in line with other viruses
- Maintaining resilience against future variants with ongoing surveillance capabilities
- Securing innovations and opportunities from the Covid response
‘We’ve built up strong protections against this virus over the past two years through the vaccine rollouts, tests, new treatments, and the best scientific understanding of what this virus can do.
‘Thanks to our successful vaccination programme and the sheer magnitude of people who have come forward to be jabbed we are now in a position to set out our plan for living with covid this week.’
However, Labour has accused the premier of trying to distract from the Partygate scandal, saying he is ‘declaring victory before the war is over’ and it is too early to scrap free tests.
The British Medical Association has raised alarm that ending Covid rules is ‘premature’ and ‘not based on current evidence’.
Mr Johnson will risk the wrath of some Tories by refusing to say when red tape will be removed for UK citizens travelling abroad.
No 10 sources stressed testing ‘surveillance systems and contingency measures’ would be retained for use if required.
Downing Street said pharmaceutical interventions will ‘continue to be our first line of defence’, with the vaccine programme remaining ‘open to anyone who has not yet come forward’.
With 85 per cent of the UK’s population double-vaccinated, and 38million booster jabs administered, No 10 said it had concluded ‘Government intervention in people’s lives can now finally end’.
It appeared to keep the door open to state-funded infection sampling remaining in place, following reports that Covid studies could be withdrawn as part of the plan.
Free Covid tests for universities were also stopped on Friday in the first sign Britain’s testing scheme was being scaled back, it was suggested.
The Government’s ‘Living Safely With Covid’ strategy’, due to be unveiled next week, will see free lateral flow swabs dumped from next month, Whitehall sources say (Pictured: Covid testing site in London)
Boris Johnson pictured visiting RAF Waddington, in Lincolnshire, on Friday. The Prime Minister has been thrashing out his plan to ‘live with’ Covid
In future, the emphasis would be on people to show ‘personal responsibility’ by staying at home if they have Covid – just as they would if they had flu. (Pictured: Commuters, some wearing masks, arrive at Waterloo train station in London)
Students were previously advised to take two lateral flow swabs a week to check for the virus.
Yet deliveries of the kits from NHS Test and Trace and the UK Health Security Agency were stopped last week, The Guardian reported.
Education leaders only found out about the termination on Wednesday, it reported.
Universities are no longer allowed to distribute their stocks on campus as of yesterday.
Officials said tomorrow’s ‘living with Covid’ plan will maintain ‘resilience against future variants with ongoing surveillance capabilities’.
It comes after senior statistician Sir David Spiegelhalter argued that the Office for National Statistics’ Covid-19 study should remain in place in some form.
The Cambridge University professor, who is a non-executive director for the ONS and chairman of the advisory board for the Covid Infection Survey, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme the results had been vital for monitoring people’s behaviour.
‘It has been absolutely so important as we have gone along,’ he said on Saturday.
‘It has been running since April 2020, and so, as I said, I do have a bias here but it is not just me – I think lots of people are saying how important it is, particularly the statistical community.’
NHS chiefs call for free virus tests and self-isolation rules to stay
Free Covid tests and self-isolation rules must continue, NHS leaders said today in a last ditch attempt to persuade Boris Johnson against dropping all remaining restrictions next week.
Matthew Taylor, chief executive of NHS Confederation – an organisation that represents leaders across the health service, warned uncertainty over long-term immunity from vaccines and previous infection and the risk of future variants meant it was still too early to drop the final measures.
He urged ministers ‘now is not the time to take risks’, saying the last restrictions should only be relaxed gradually and on the basis of evidence to avoid any sudden flare-ups, even though cases, hospitalisations and deaths have all been trending downwards for weeks as the Omicron wave recedes.
Calling for the brakes to be slammed onto No10’s ‘living with Covid’ plans, Mr Taylor – Tony Blair’s former policy adviser – said: ‘The Government cannot wave a magic wand and pretend the threat has disappeared entirely.’ He added the move to exit the acute phase of the pandemic ‘must not be driven by political expediency’.
Other healthcare leaders also urged the Prime Minister to re-consider his plans today, saying he should ease the last restrictions ‘gradually’.
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