Queues around the block for booster jabs as Boris Johnson calls for thousands more volunteers

Yorkshire people queued around the block to get a booster yesterday on the first day of the supercharged vaccine programme, as online services for lateral flow tests and jab bookings creaked under the Omicron pressure.
People queuing for booster jabs at St Thomas' Hospital, London.People queuing for booster jabs at St Thomas' Hospital, London.
People queuing for booster jabs at St Thomas' Hospital, London.

Boris Johnson is urgently calling for more volunteers to man the thousands of vaccination sites needed to operate in order to achieve the goal of boosting every adult by the end of this year, as Ministers and scientists race to try and defend the public against the new strain.

Health Secretary Sajid Javid suggested yesterday that coronavirus infections are running at a rate as high as 200,000 a day and it has been confirmed that the first person has died after testing positive for Omicron.

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Mr Johnson said that “we need to increase our jabbing capacity to unprecedented levels” to reach the millions of shots in arms wanted before January.

In a refreshed call for help, he added: “We need tens of thousands of people to help out – everyone from trained vaccinators to stewards.

‘Many thousands have already given their time - but we need you to come forward again, to work alongside our brilliant GPs, doctors, nurses and pharmacists, to deliver jabs and save lives.

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Sheffield and Harrogate were among the dozens of places with reported queues for jabs yesterday. Meanwhile, large lines were seen at Lakeside Shopping Centre in Doncaster, with people - many with masks - pictured waiting under the tinsel and Christmas decorations, in scenes replicated dozens of times over across England.

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Speaking in the House of Commons yesterday, Mr Javid told colleagues. “The UK Health Security Agency estimates that the current number of daily infections are around 200,000.

“While Omicron represents over 20 per cent of cases in England, we’ve already seen it rise to over 44 per cent in London and we expect it to become the dominant Covid 19 variant in the capital in the next 48 hours.”

He also said that the booster or third dose will become a requisite for every adult to be classed as “fully vaccinated” Mr Javid also confirmed to MPs yesterday, once everybody has had the chance to book one in.

The online booking service officially opened for people over 30 yesterday, with backlogs forming almost instantly on the website. There were also issues with the system to order lateral flow tests for home delivery, with the gov.uk website having to suspend orders for a time. Mr Javid said that arrangements had been sorted with Amazon to try to compensate for the issues with delivery,

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He said there is “no shortage of actual tests”, adding that there are “tens of millions” available.

He said the “the limiting factor” is the ability to deliver the tests, branding the current arrangements with Royal Mail alone as “not enough”.