British officials say Covid-19 vaccines have saved more than 112,000 lives and averted 24 million cases of the disease as they recommended all vulnerable people, frontline health staff and those aged over 50 be offered a booster shot.

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation's recommendation of a third dose six months after a second shot, paves the way for a broad revaccination programme in Britain, which has one of the world's highest death tolls from Covid-19.

It comes ahead of an announcement by the government on its strategy for taming infections this winter, with Prime Minister Boris Johnson and other officials warning that the battle against the virus was not over.

Read more from Reuters here.

Chair of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation Professor Wei Shen Lim, Britain's Deputy Chief Medical Officer Professor Jonathan Van-Tam, and Chief Executive of the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency June Raine, attend a media briefing on Covid-19 at Downing Street in London, Britain on September 14. — Reuters
Chair of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation Professor Wei Shen Lim, Britain's Deputy Chief Medical Officer Professor Jonathan Van-Tam, and Chief Executive of the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency June Raine, attend a media briefing on Covid-19 at Downing Street in London, Britain on September 14. — Reuters

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