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 Britain is racing to offer all adults a booster by the end of the
year as the country faces what Prime Minister Boris Johnson has
termed a "tidal wave" of Omicron variant infections.
Asked if in retrospect it would have been better to have an earlier
booster campaign to protect against a new variant, Professor Lim Wei
Shen, chair for COVID-19 immunisation on the government's Joint
Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, said: "The simple answer
is no.
"The decision in September to offer vaccination to people over 50
for example was based on the Delta variant, which was circulating
and the waning of protection against severe disease."
He said the committee had decided to accelerate the booster campaign
on Nov. 29, three days after WHO declared Omicron a variant of
concern.
"We could have potentially called it earlier - two days earlier -
but I don't think we could call it before it was identified," he
said.
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 Lim also told the committee of
lawmakers that the country could have moved
earlier to vaccinate children aged between 12
and 15 if it had had the benefit of extra data
on safety.
He said shots could be offered to children as
young as five.
"We are discussing that at the moment," he said.
"We're also waiting for the vaccines to be
approved by MHRA."
Lim said the decision could be made before
Christmas.
(Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge and Paul Sandle)
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