By Elizabeth Piper

LONDON (Reuters] – Britain’s health minister Sajid javid indicated on Sunday that he would soon receive an opinion on whether or not the government should expand a booster shot program in order to lessen the effects of Omicron coronavirus.

After Britain had reported two cases, the health agency in Britain recorded another. This was a man who had traveled to Southern Africa and had returned to the UK after having spent time in London.

New measures were announced by the government on Saturday in an effort to reduce the spread. They tightened the rules regarding people entering Britain and ordered the use face masks to be worn in stores and transport.

Ministers have also vowed to boost the supply of booster vaccines. This is because even if Omicron vaccines show less effectiveness, it should still offer more protection. It will also reduce hospitalisations.

Javid said that the other important thing, which is still very important but it seems fair to say more so now, was our vaccination program.

“That is why I asked our vaccine experts, JCVI, to provide me with quick advice on how to broaden and boost our booster programme. I am expecting to receive that advice very soon.”

Britain announced earlier this month that it would allow people over 40 to get booster shots and children under 17 years old will be able receive a second dose of the vaccine following advice from the JCVI.

Scotland’s first minister, Nicola Sturgeon told Andrew Marr that she will also introduce new rules to accommodate those arriving.

She said, “I think it is important to be open-minded about doing whatever necessary to ensure the safety of our population right now.”

BUILDING TIME

The discovery of Omicron, dubbed a “variant of concern” last week by the World Health Organization, has sparked worries around the world https://www.reuters.com/world/new-coronavirus-variant-omicron-keeps-spreading-australia-detects-cases-2021-11-28 that it could resist vaccinations and prolong the nearly two-year COVID-19 pandemic.

Javid stated that the new measures were necessary to allow experts time to learn more about Omicron. This virus is expected to have spread to other parts of Britain than the three confirmed cases.

Chief executive of UK’s Health Security Agency Jenny Harries stated: “It seems very probable that we will discover more cases in the coming days. As we see in other countries worldwide and as we increase case detection via focused contact-tracing.

The Financial Times quoted people who were familiar with this matter to say that officials in public health had been informed that the UK’s investigation into a case involving a South African national was underway. He arrived in Britain on November 16th.

Paul Burton is chief medical officer Moderna (NASDAQ:), said that if a new vaccine was needed, “I think that’s going to be early 2022 before that’s really going to be available in large quantities”.

Javid said that vaccines may not be as effective against the variant.

He said, “The important thing is that vaccines still provide you with more protection than the others.” The booster program is crucial because of this.