Britain on behalf of the G7 says it is “deeply concerned” by the recent rise in cases; Biden warns Omicron could peak in January as states scramble to prepare for overloaded hospitals
- Omicron R number estimated to be between 3 and 5 in the UK
- Queen cancels pre-Christmas family lunch as Covid cases soar
- France to tighten Covid restrictions, banning British tourists
- Germany looks to buy up spare Covid vaccines amid huge shortfall
- US hospitals brace for potential Omicron surge in January
- See all our coronavirus coverage
A panel of outside advisers to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Thursday voted to recommend directing Americans towards the mRNA vaccines for protection against Covid-19 – meaning the shots by Pfizer/BioNTech or Moderna in the US – in preference to Johnson & Johnson’s vaccines, because of the risk of rare but sometimes fatal cases of blood clotting.
The CDC’s advisory committee on immunisation voted unanimously to make the recommendation. The regulator still needs to sign off on the guidance.
