BORIS Johnson told the nation today to celebrate New Year “sensibly and cautiously” – and get a booster if they want to keep their freedoms.
The PM, speaking for the first time since the Christmas break, insisted the reason why England was able to continue with no additional Covid rules was solely down to the stunning booster rollout.
And he begged millions of people to book their first, second or booster jabs in now to protect them from the virus, admitting that cases of omicron are still rising.
A string of hugely positive studies show Omicron IS milder than other strains, with the first official UK report revealing the risk of hospitalisation is 50 to 70 per cent lower than with Delta.
Covid booster jabs protect against Omicron and offer the best chance to get through the pandemic, health officials have repeatedly said.
HOAR’s Jabs Army campaign is helping get the vital extra vaccines in Brits’ arms to ward off the need for any new restrictions.
Speaking on a visit to a vaccine centre this morning, the PM insisted: “We’re able to proceed in the way that we are. But there is one reason, and one reason only why we’re able to do that.
“And that’s because such a huge proportion of the British public have come forward to get vaccinated and particularly to get boosted.
“We’ve done about 32 and a half, maybe more million booster jabs. And that is allowing us to year in the cautious way that we are.”
Mr Johnson also warned that the majority of people getting seriously ill with Covid are people who haven’t been vaccinated, or haven’t had their booster jabs.
He vowed that everyone in the country will have been offered a booster as promised by the end of the year.
