The Prime Minister has warned British people that they must get vaccinated as soon as they are eligible as Covid cases increase in Europe.

Boris Johnson told a press conference this afternoon that they "cannot afford to be complacent".

"It would be an utter tragedy if people who have done the right thing and got double jabbed got seriously ill or died by allowing their immunity to wane," he said.

"We don’t yet know the extent to which this new wave will wash up on our shores but history shows we cannot afford to be complacent."

He said that the government was "sticking to our plan of using vaccination to control" the pandemic.

Mr Johnson also confirmed: 

  • Second Covid doses would be available to 16-17 years olds 12 weeks after their 1st dose
  • Booster doses would be available to all over 40s

Three doses cuts the risk of infection by more than 93 per cent, according to the latest data from the UK Health and Security Agency.

And on the subject of whether he could rule out a Christmas lockdown, Mr Johnson said he saw "nothing in the data" that would result in the re-imposition of further measures.

Chief Medical Officer, Professor Chris Whitty, said that the number of people testing positive for Covidwas "broadly flat" at a "fairly high level".