Omicron: Covid booster programme expanded on Isle of Man

Everyone over the age of 18 will be offered a Covid-19 booster vaccine in due course

A "major expansion" of the Isle of Man's Covid-19 booster jab programme is set to be rolled out from Saturday, the government has said.

Walk-in clinics for those aged 40 and over will run until 24 December amid fears over the Omicron variant.

Jabs will be administered to anyone eligible, alongside those who already have appointments booked.

A planned walk-in clinic for first and second vaccines for 12 to 17-year-olds has been cancelled as a result.

A government spokeswoman said protecting people from serious illness and preventing the island's health services from a potential new wave of the virus were now "urgent priorities".

'Expected surge'

Health Minister Lawrie Hooper said the appointments would now be used to "prioritise giving the booster to those who are in older age groups", after a low take-up from younger people at a previous clinic.

"We are upscaling the booster vaccination rollout at pace, to get ahead of an expected surge in Omicron cases and avoid the extra demand this will place on our health and other essential services," he said.

More than 31,000 people have already received an additional vaccine.

The move comes as the latest public health surveillance report warned that officials "expect to see a fourth wave driven by Omicron developing over the rest of this year and into next".

The report said it was "not yet possible to model the impact of this or its implications for demand on NHS services with any accuracy at this stage".

However, the island's current wave of infections, which had been "driven almost entirely by transmission of the delta variant", was now "levelling off", it added.

There are currently 770 active cases of the virus on the island, with eight people receiving treatment in Noble's Hospital.