Chris Whitty calls for booster vaccine uptake

Professor Chris Whitty has today urged people who have been offered a ‘booster’ vaccine to take them.

In a statement posted to Twitter this morning, the chief medical officer for England and the UK government’s chief medical adviser wrote:

“COVID-19 cases are rising and winter is drawing closer.

1) If you have not been vaccinated, now is the time.
2) If you are offered a booster please take up the offer.
3) Ventilation, masks in crowded indoor spaces and hand washing remain important.”

The government is currently offering people aged 50 years and over, health and social care workers and ‘at-risk’ younger people a booster dose of coronavirus vaccine to improve their protection from the virus ahead of winter.

Yesterday The Times reported that a large-scale advertising campaign will soon be launched to urge those eligible for the vaccine top-up to take it, amid the news that millions have so far opted not to.