Preliminary data has shown vaccine effectiveness against the Omicron Covid-19 variant "considerably increased" in the early period after a booster dose, providing around 70% to 75% protection against symptomatic infection.
That is according to the UK Health Security Agency, which also said Omicron is expected to become the dominant variant in the UK by mid-December with one million infections by the end of the month.
Analysis of 581 people with confirmed Omicron cases showed the AstraZeneca and Pfizer vaccines provided "much lower" levels of protection against the variant when compared with the Delta variant.
But vaccine effectiveness "considerably increased" in the early period after a booster dose, providing around 70% to 75% protection