Vaccination Update
On December 8th 2020, Margaret Keenan, at the age of 90, made history by becoming the first person to be given a Coronavirus vaccination. Twelve months later, a total of 97,720,670 doses had been administered in the UK, with 51,138,245 people receiving a first dose (88.9% of the population aged 12 and over) and 46,582,425 people receiving both doses (81%). A total of 20,909,809 people have now received a booster jab (36.4%).
People aged 40 and over in England can now book to have their booster jab for three months after their second dose. The booking system will open to people a month in advance – i.e. two months (61 days) after they have received their second dose.
Future Proofing of Vaccination Programme
The government has signed new contracts to secure the supply of our vaccine stock to future proof the country’s booster programme and has made deals including 60 million additional doses of the Moderna and 54 million of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines that can be modified against new variants. Further details can be found here.
International Travel – Rule changes
Additional precautions being introduced in the light of the Covid-19 Omicron variant include a change in the requirements for people travelling or returning to England with effect from Tuesday 7th December when all people aged 12 years and over must take a PCR or LFD COVID-19 test within the two days before they travel to England – this applies whether you qualify as fully vaccinated or not.
It will still be necessary to complete a passenger locator form in the 48 hours before arrival in England and to book and pay for a Covid-19 PCR test to be taken before the end of day 2 following arrival – but you must now quarantine in your home or the place you are staying while you await your test result.
For further details, including the rules for people who do not qualify as fully vaccinated, please see here.
In a further change, Nigeria was added to the red list of countries with effect from 6th December. The COVID-19 testing and quarantine rules for countries and territories on the red list for international travel to England can be found here.
If you are planning a trip abroad, the latest advice about foreign travel including information on coronavirus, safety and security, entry requirements and travel warnings for various countries can be found here.
