The day after a speech by the British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, the media across the Channel largely seized, Monday, December 13, of the announcements of the head of government made the day before. While not all openly call for vaccination, “some” newspapers and websites, however, almost all post articles on the new variant of SARS-CoV-2, Omicron, and the extension of vaccination to all. adults over 18 in England, a measure supposed to break this new wave of contamination in the country.
Already largely affected by the first more contagious variant of SARS-CoV-2, Alpha, the United Kingdom is once again at the forefront against Omicron. More transmissible, this new variant – much of which is still unknown – is expected to be dominant in the UK in the coming days, with Mr Johnson warning that it could “Overload the NHS [les services de santé britanniques, National Health Service] and lead to many deaths ”. At least one person died in hospital on Monday after being infected with Omicron, the premier said.
“Omigawd! “
British tabloid The Sun, close to the conservative camp, title his edition of the day in connection with the Omicron variant “Omigawd! “, Another spelling of the exclamation of surprise common in the United Kingdom” Oh my god! “. Another tabloid, The Daily Mirror, further to the left, resumes, in bold and capital letters, the name of the plan to fight against Covid-19 presented by Mr. Johnson: “Get your booster now” (“Get your vaccine booster now”). On its site, the third dose of vaccine also occupies the top of its home page, an article reporting that the NHS online platform was down in the face of the influx of requests.
Tomorrow’s front page: Get your booster now https://t.co/AH9Ck3GIVY #TomorrowsPapersToday https://t.co/mLw2eNNguy
the Daily Mail also, although critical of government action, reserves the “one” of his site to Omicron and to the acceleration of vaccination before the end of the year holidays, however pointing to a “Nightmare before Christmas” in the face of a shortage of tests, the incident at the health services site and a wait outside vaccination centers stretching to ” five hours “. “The farce of the recall of Boris”, still headlines the tabloid.
The “Omicron tidal wave”
The urgency of the situation, conveyed by the speech of the British Prime Minister the day before, was reflected on Monday morning on the site of Guardian, dressed in a flashing red box “Covid in the United Kingdom”. The daily, historically close to Labor, devoted its entire front page to the subject, soberly titling: “The Prime Minister is betting on a million doses of vaccine administered per day to stop the” tidal wave “Omicron”. Finally, in its newsletter of the day, the Guardian open by “Rush on booster doses in the heart of the Omicron emergency”.
Guardian front page 13 December 2021: PM bets on 1m jabs a day to halt ‘tidal wave’ of Omicron https://t.co/R7dkgtxhMD
Likewise, another progressive media, The Independent, devoted his “one” at “Million injections per day to challenge the ‘tidal wave’ linked to Covid-19”. The one of Times, again entirely devoted to Mr. Johnson’s announcements and factually titled: “A booster dose for each adult before the end of the month”, however sounds good as an injunction. Like the British press, with fragmented opinions, but entirely focused on vaccination and concern around Omicron.