A social care leader has urged any vaccine-sceptic care workers in the Hywel Dda region to get fully jabbed as a matter of urgency.

After cases of the new ‘Omricon’ variant of Covid-19 have been found in the UK, Mario Kreft MBE has said that care workers should get their booster jab as soon as eligible.

Experts have said that although the new variant can spread between vaccinated people, those unvaccinated are much more likely to become unwell or seriously ill because of it.

Mr Kreft said: “Having a booster jab is the one thing that people can do to play their part to combat this horrible ‘super variant.’

“Our staff have been heroic throughout the pandemic and they have risen magnificently to the unprecedented challenges of keeping people safe.

“This is the time when the whole community can do their bit, but it’s especially important that people who work in care homes or in domiciliary care have their third jab.

“The reason it’s so important for people in social care to be triple-jabbed is blindingly obvious because they are looking after the most vulnerable people in society, those who more often than not have serious underlying health conditions that make them uniquely susceptible.

“It is their right not to be vaccinated but it’s now a real issue of concern with the new Omicron variant which appears to be so much more transmissible.

“It presents a whole set of new risks for care homes and domiciliary care so it’s imperative we all do the right thing.

“We’re now involved in a race against time against a new and potentially extremely dangerous super variant.

“We won’t know the full extent of the dangers for a few weeks but if we wait until then it could be too late and people will die. That’s the bottom line.

“Even people who have been double-jabbed may not be safe, so having the booster will provide the best possible protection that’s currently available to us.

“The people at most risk are the unvaccinated and they are the ones most likely to spread the disease.”