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UK COVID-19 cases soar amid key worker shortage

Wednesday, 05 January 2022 11:08 PM [ Last Update: Wednesday, 05 January 2022 11:08 PM ]

Bianca Rahimi
Press TV, London

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson says staffing shortages are causing havoc across numerous industries. To keep essential services open 100,000 critical workers are to be offered daily lateral flow tests. That said, thousands of key workers are already down.

The National Health Service that was already buckling under the pressure of privatization, fragmentation and defunding, is having to postpone surgeries due to staff isolating in some hospitals more than 10 percent of staff are off sick. One way the government is planning to tackle this is shortening the self-isolation period, but is such an approach backed by science?

The UK government insists omicron is milder and the risk of hospitalization is significantly less especially if you are vaccinated. More than 82 percent of Britons over the age of 12 have had two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine and 75 percent of eligible adults have received a third dose. However the World Health Organization says rich countries cannot booster their way out of this, and hoarding will only prolong the pandemic.

About 72 percent of shots administered worldwide were in high- and upper-middle-income countries. Almost 3 years into the pandemic lower income countries are still waiting for rich nations to make good on their promises, but with Israel rolling out a 4^th dose and the US considering the same, it seems unlikely they will be prioritized.

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