Up to 90 per cent of coronavirus patients in intensive care have not received their booster vaccine, Boris Johnson has claimed in a plea to increase uptake.
The Prime Minister said the “overwhelming majority” of those in ICU with the virus had not had a third jab and 2.4 million eligible adults already double-jabbed are yet to come forward.
Mr Johnson told reporters on Wednesday: “According to some of the surveys I’ve seen 90 per cent of people in ICU are people who are not boosted. So think about that, think about the risk you’re running with your own health if you fail to get a booster.
“I’m sorry to say this but the overwhelming majority of people who are currently ending up in intensive care are people who are not boosted. I’ve talked to doctors who say the numbers are running up to 90 per cent of people in intensive care who are not boosted.”
He said he “cannot stress enough how vital it is” to receive a booster jab and said “I’ve got no doubt at all” that the Government would hit its January 1 target of offering boosters to all eligible adults.
While acknowledging the surging omicron variant “continues to cause real problems”, he stressed the new variant is milder and some 32.5 million boosters had been given.
Covid infections hit a record high on Tuesday but the most up to date NHS data show that just one fifth of the weekly rise in Covid inpatients were admitted to hospital because of the virus, as opposed to being admitted for unrelated reasons.