Scientists are more certain vaccines do protect against known strains, says Boris

Boris Johnson said today during Prime Minister Question’s (PMQs) that the government has “increasing confidence” that all the current vaccines protect against all Covid variants.

The Prime Minister told MPs on Wednesday “We have looked at the data again this morning and… we have increasing confidence that vaccines are effective against all variants, including the Indian variant.”

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer warned Johnson over new variants coming through the UK’s borders and the government’s border policy has been branded as a joke by Dominic Cummings.

Shadow Health Secretary Jonathan Ashworth told Sky News, “Our borders have been about as secure as a sieve throughout this crisis and it’s why we are seeing these variants bounce at us.

“There’s probably going to be more of this as well, so we have got to work internationally to bring infection rates down and make sure the world is vaccinated.

“But we have also got to have secure borders and controls as well.”

The Labour leader told MPs in the Commons that unlocking England on 21 June is being risked as new variants are entering the UK.

Johnson laughed and claimed that the UK has “one of the strongest border regimes anywhere in the world.”

Johnson’s former confidant and advisor, Cummings publicly wrote on Twitter yesterday that the government’s Covid plan was “part disaster, part non-existent,” despite the PM saying it is “world class.”

Sir Keir stood up and said, “We are not just talking about the Indian variant, we are talking about future variants. ‘In those circumstances, why on Monday did the Prime Minister choose to weaken travel restrictions by moving 170 countries or territories to the amber list?”

The Labour Party are demanding that international travel to be halted immediately to prevent the Indian variant from spreading as well as importing other “dangerous strains.”

Ashworth told Sky News, “People just want clear guidance about what is the right thing to do.

“I probably wouldn’t have introduced… the international travel restrictions easing, this week. I’d have done it in a different way.

“Our Shadow Home Secretary, Nick Thomas-Symonds, has long been calling on your programme and other programmes that we need a comprehensive border policy.”

Thomas-Symonds said in a statement on Tuesday, “The Conservatives border policies have unraveled into dangerous chaos within a matter of hours since international travel was opened up.

“There is a lack of strategy, which has meant the UK government, and their own Ministers, are giving out conflicting and confused advice about whether people are allowed to travel, especially between ‘amber list’ countries.”