Professor of Vaccination and Immunity Committee, who gave advice to the government on the vaccination program in England. Andrew Pollard said that regularly vaccinating everyone in the world against Covid-19 would not be sustainable, nor might it be necessary.
Head of Oxford University’s Vaccine Group, Prof. Instead, Pollard said, those most at risk should be identified and given priority.
“It’s not really sustainable. It can’t be costly. Maybe we don’t need to vaccinate everyone on the planet every four to six months,” Pollard told the BBC.
prof. Pollard continued:
“There’s absolutely no way we’ll get to a point where everyone in Africa can get a fourth dose of the vaccine, while everyone in Africa hasn’t even gotten a single dose.”
In England, where the number of cases is rapidly increasing, all adults can already receive a third dose of vaccine. prof. Pollard noted that they cannot yet say for sure whether a fourth dose will be needed.
Pointing out that the UK will be in a good position if the milder variants of the disease emerge, as in Omicron, Pollard said:
“In this case, additional doses can only be given to at-risk groups, but it is very unlikely that we will reach a point where everyone over the age of 12 will need additional doses. There will be new variants of Omicron. Since we don’t know how these will happen, everything can change.”
Record number of cases
Pollard said the immunization program in the UK was “going extremely well”, but fell short in some parts of the world.
In the United Kingdom, which includes England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, cases of Omicron have risen to a record high in recent weeks.
A total of 157,758 cases were reported yesterday in England and Scotland. Wales and Northern Ireland have not yet released their daily case numbers, as the Christmas and New Year’s holidays have just ended.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s spokesman said that despite the increase in the number of cases, “the government does not see a situation that would require new restrictions”.
Measures called ‘Plan B’ are currently being implemented in the UK. Accordingly, it is mandatory to wear masks in closed areas. Employees are also advised to work from home if possible.