Omicron Variant Prompts Governments to Push Covid-19 Boosters

TEL AVIV—Israel, the United Arab Emirates and the U.K., all early adopters of the Covid-19 vaccine, are urging their residents to get a booster shot as governments globally consider options to help fend off the coronavirus’s new Omicron variant.

The U.K. expanded its Covid-19 booster program on Monday to cover the entire adult population, as well as halving the gap between the second and third doses to three months. Before the emergence of the Omicron variant, only people above the age of 40 were eligible for a booster in the U.K.