Office Christmas parties should not go ahead if they are not necessary to help stop the spread of the new covid variant, one of the UK’s top health officials has advised.
Jenny Harries, the chief executive of the UK Health Security Agency, urged everyone to cut down their social contact amid fears that existing vaccines will prove less effective against Omicron than against other variants.
Harries said: “Of course our behaviours in winter, and particularly around Christmas, we tend to socialise more, so I think all of those will need to be taken into account.
"We’ve seen that not everybody has gone back to work and I’d like to think of it more in a general way, which is if we all decrease our social contacts a little bit, actually that helps to keep the variant at bay.
“So I think being careful, not socialising when we don’t particularly need to and particularly going and getting those booster jabs which, of course, people will now be able to have at a three-month interval from their primary course.
UK health minister, Gillian Keegan MP, meanwhile said the government is “very much hoping that we can keep Christmas on track”.
She told Sky News the position this year was much different due to the coronavirus vaccine rollout.
Keegan said: “Of course, Christmas is on track, and actually what everybody wants for Christmas is if you haven’t had your first jab, come and get it, if you haven’t had your second jab, come and get it, and if you haven’t had your booster, come and get it when you’re asked.”
Harries spoke ahead of Nicola Sturgeon making a covid statement to the Scottish parliament at 2.20pm and a Downing Street press conference at 4pm at which Prime Minister Boris Johnson is to urge people to have their booster jabs when called forward by the NHS.
Asked if Dr Harries’ view that people should try to avoid socialising when they do not need to over the Christmas period was shared by the Prime Minister, his spokesman told reporters: “No. Our advice to the public is as set out at the weekend.
Asked if people should follow what he was saying or what Dr Harries was saying, the spokesman said: “The public should follow the guidance as set out by the Government and indeed the Prime Minister at the weekend.”
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