The World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned that the vaccine alone will not be able to lift the world out of the pandemic.
It comes as PM Boris Johnson is urging people eligible for a Covid booster vaccine to get theirs before the winter months.
It comes while those eligible for the third jab have been slow to book their appointments.
Cases have been rising over the past week to between 40,000 and 50,000 new cases per day for the last week – sparking fears for hospitalisation and death rates over the festive season.
WHO spokesperson Margaret Harris told Times Radio: “The problem is focusing on one thing, the vaccine isn’t going to get us out of this.
“We really have to do other measures.
“We have got to be serious about not crowding. We have still got to be looking at wearing the masks, when you’re indoors particularly.”
Senior scientific advisers to the government have told ministers to start preparing for the “rapid deployment” of basic Covid measures such as the return of compulsory mask-wearing and working from home.
Local authorities have urged Downing Street to “act now, rather than later”, and unions have warned that “without decisive action now” that the UK will be “sleepwalking into another winter of chaos”.
