Boris Johnson has celebrated the UK’s booster programme’s success and claimed that it had met his objective of giving top-up doses of medicine to all adults in England.
The Prime Minister also urged everyone to make getting jabbed a New Year resolution to help keep the nation free from lockdown.
He spoke out as the number of people in hospital in England with Covid rose to 11,452 yesterday – up 61 per cent from a week earlier and the highest number since February 26.
There were 2,082 Covid hospital admissions in England on Tuesday, up 90 per cent week-on-week and the highest daily total since February 3, NHS England figures show.
However, around one third of patients admitted to hospital for Covid have been found to be there primarily to treat a condition unrelated to the virus. This proportion is expected to rise.
According to the NHS Confederation, while the organisation said it was encouraging to see people apply for jabs and that it heard some reports about clinics only being a third full because of Omicron-related cases continuing to increase rapidly.
Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the company, stated that some primary care executives had informed him that 40% to 41% of booked appointments were being missed.
The government set the goal at November’s end to provide a booster shot to anyone 18 years or older by January 2021.
This goal was then pushed back by one month due to Omicron’s new threat that is sweeping the nation.
Johnson declared on December 12th that two doses were simply not sufficient for the necessary protection. He also warned that the NHS might be overloaded if it isn’t boosted with enough people. Johnson set December 31, as the new deadline, to offer a booster for every person in England.
The UK has received more than 33.5million booster and three doses, including 1.8million within the past seven days. Last week, the Government stated that they had reached a rolling average delivery rate of almost one million boosters per day. This is also in line with PM’s goal.

Boris Johnson, last night, urged people to get jabbed as a New Year’s resolution in order to keep the country free from lockdown.

The UK registered a further 189,213 Covid infections yesterday – another record.
The highest number of deaths since March 2 was 332, but this also included the backlog of deaths at hospitals in England between December 24-29.
The Prime Minister, however, emphasized that the current situation was better than it was last year in a positive New Year message.
He said: ‘Whatever the challenges that fate continues to throw in our way and whatever the anxieties we may have about the weeks and months ahead, particularly about Omicron and the growing numbers in hospitals, we can say one thing with certainty – our position this December 31 is incomparably better than last year.’
Mr Johnson hailed the success of the UK’s booster programme, but he used his address to issue a stark warning to people who have not had all their jabs.

Right: Nurse Salak Ali administers the ‘Jingle Jab’ Covid booster vaccination to a patient at North London’s Good Health Pharmacy on Christmas Day.
Johnson stated in a video message posted to the internet this morning: “I want to directly speak to all of those who are yet to be fully vaccinated.”
“The people who believe that the disease won’t harm them.” Look at the people going into hospital now – that could be you.
‘Look at the intensive care units and the miserable, needless suffering of those who did not get their booster – that could be you.
“So make this your New Year’s Resolution. Give it a try and make 2022 a great year.

Mr Johnson also said he has fulfilled his pledge to offer every adult in England the chance to book a booster by the end of the year – over eight million have been given since the target was announced on December 12, taking the total in England to 28.1million.
It is believed that around 9 million people are eligible for the booster, but they are not yet able to get it.
Yesterday, Professor Martin Marshall of the Royal College of GPs warned that the rollout could be halted over Christmas.
He stated that while the vaccination program was going well, it has been slow during the Christmas season, especially in the GP centers, Times Radio reported. Although I suspect the program will improve in January, it has been frustrating for staff.

Sir Keir Starmer, however, used the New Year’s message to pledge to create a plan for ‘building a new Britain.
According to Labour’s leader, the party is ahead of his in recent polls. He stated that he believes Britain has great potential. We can all work together to make Britain’s future better for everyone if we do the right things.
“That must be the real legacy of all the pain and sacrifices of the last two years during the pandemic.”
Sir Ed Davey of the Liberal Democrats said that he hoped 2022 is “the year when we finally defeat Covid”.