By Ben Kerrigan-
Boris Johnson has assured the British public he will adopt a voluntary approach to vaccination in the Uk, as he contrasted England’s flexible approach to the coercive one exercised by other European countries with respect to the jab.
The UK prime minister spoke as he accused anti-vaccine campaigners of speaking “mumbo jumbo” when it comes to coronavirus jabs.
The prime minister said those spreading false information on social media were “totally wrong” and it was time for him “to call them out”. Instead, Johnson called for people to recognize the importance of vaccination.
Johnson didn’t say which group of antivaxers were spreading false information, nor did he say what he false information was.
Johnston also notably did not criticize any of the European countries he said were coercing people to be vaccinated, but was clearly placing Uk on a higher pedastal ethically than those European countries.
An estimated 83% members of the British public have had a second dose, while 60% have had their booster or third primary dose
Mr Johnson, who was speaking while on a visit to a vaccination centre in Northampton yesterday, said: “I want to say to the anti-vax campaigners, the people who are putting this mumbo jumbo on social media: they are completely wrong.
“You haven’t heard me say that before, because I think it’s important we have a voluntary approach in this country and we’re going to keep a voluntary approach.”
Mr Johnson said some other European nations were going for “coercion”.
Italy is the latest country to make vaccination compulsory for some, with all over-50s now being told to have a jab. Austria was the first to make it a legal requirement.
The prime minister said: “What a tragedy that we’ve got all this pressure on the NHS, all the difficulties that our doctors and nurses are experiencing, and we’ve got people out there spouting complete nonsense about vaccination.
“They are totally wrong, and I think it’s time that I, the government, call them out on what they’re doing. It’s absolutely wrong, it’s totally counterproductive, and the stuff they’re putting out on social media is complete mumbo jumbo.”
He said some 30-40% of the 17,000 patients in hospital with Covid “haven’t actually been vaccinated at all”. This is “increasingly true” of those in intensive care, added Mr Johnson, as the “overwhelming majority of them have not been boosted”.