Masks will be needed to bring covid back under control in the UK, an expert has said.
Professor Peter Openshaw, a member of the New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group (Nervtag), told BBC Breakfast he is pleased that the UK can currently avoid the measures being introduced in Europe.
“The situation appears to have really been destabilised in some parts of Europe because of misinformation, particularly about vaccines,” he said.
“I think, in the UK, we had a very successful early vaccination campaign and we got very high vaccination rates, particularly amongst those who are vulnerable, but obviously that means that many people have now been vaccinated some time ago and they do need the boosters in order to raise their level of immunity back up again and make sure that, as we go into the winter season and towards Christmas, that we have very high levels of immunity again within society.”
He added: “I am concerned that we do have really quite high levels of transmission in the UK. My personal preference would be that we should really try to get these rates down – we know that masks do work… because there are people who are unvaccinated for various reasons, and we do need to try and reduce the level of circulation of the virus, as well as getting up vaccination rates.
“No single measure by itself is going to be successful; we need the combination of measures, which includes re-vaccination, third doses, but also wearing masks and being very careful not to transmit the virus.”
Prof Openshaw said he is “against mandatory vaccination”, adding that he thinks the “answer is education and making sure that the correct messages get out”.
