Boris Johnson Defies Expert Advise On How To Limit Christmas Socializing.

 

Boris Johnson has contradicted top scientists and one of his most senior health professionals, who encouraged people to cut out on excessive socializing in reaction to Omicron, by urging people to keep their Christmas parties and nativity performances going.

The best way to combat the threat of the Covid version, according to the prime minister, is to get booster shots, which will be available to all adults by the end of January thanks to a big NHS campaign sponsored by the army.

"We don't want people to cancel such events," Johnson replied when asked what he would say to schools cutting back on nativity performances and people skipping Christmas social engagements.

Despite Jenny Harries, the chief executive of the UK Health Security Agency, suggesting that people should reduce their social contact as fears grow that existing vaccines will prove ineffective against the Omicron variant, he insisted that the current guidance to wear masks on public transportation and in stores was sufficient at this time.

"Of course, our behavior in the winter – and particularly around Christmas – tends to be more social, so I think all of that will need to be taken into account," the former deputy chief medical officer for England told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

"So I think [the solution is] being cautious, not socializing when we don't need to, and especially getting those booster jabs," she says.