Boris Johnson appealed last night for volunteers to carry out Covid jabs round the clock.
To achieve this unprecedented “national mission”, he said that tens to thousands of people were required in order for every adult to receive a third dose of the drug.
Since the Prime Minister’s TV appeal, to stop a “tidal wave” of Omicron cases from occurring in less than 24 hours, over a million people have received their boosters and booked them.
Yesterday, there was long waits to get jabs. The NHS booking system crashed under the pressure of increased demand. Up to 57,000 appointments were made an hour – 16 a second.
Plans are being developed by the NHS to accelerate vaccine delivery so that at least 20 million people will be vaccinated before January. Many ‘pop up’ centers will open, even in football stadiums.
Some websites will open 24 hours per day even Christmas Day. Pharmacies may be required to give jabs during non-business hours.
The 15-minute wait required after an injection may be ditched to increase capacity at small venues. Yesterday saw the call for assistance from 750 Armed Forces members.
Boris Johnson appealed last night for a volunteer army to provide Covid jabs round the clock.
This deployment will involve 60 logistic experts and planners working at NHS England as well small units of soldiers supporting across the country.
Ministers think they have tens to thousands more volunteers needed for staffing pop-up vaccine centres. Johnson declared, “I am issuing an appeal for volunteers to participate in our national mission get jabs into arms.”
Many thousands have already donated their time. But, we still need your help to bring jabs into the world alongside brilliant doctors, nurses, pharmacists and other health professionals.
This booster push comes after evidence suggesting that three jabs may offer up to 70% protection from Omicron infection, as opposed to only negligible protection for people who received two doses.
This deployment will involve 60 logistics and planning experts from NHS England as well small groups of soldiers who will assist across the country.
Other developments
- Sajid Javid stated that experts believe up to 200,000 people could have contracted Omicron in the past yesterday, but it was later revealed this was due to “modelling”;
- Prime Minister was in line for the Tory Rebellion of His Premiership’s Biggest, when MPs voted tonight on vaccine passports at large venues and nightclubs.
- NHS was put on an urgent footing. The hospitals were given permission to defer routine operations so they could focus on the booster program.
- Johnson reported the death the first victim ‘with Omicron” in the UK. No 10, however, could not confirm if it was caused by the virus.
- South Africa has provided new evidence to suggest that Omicron strain cases have stabilized. The strain causes mild symptoms.
- Doctors will only be allowed to provide urgent and booster vaccinations.
- Sajid Javid Health Secretary, warned double-jabbed individuals will lose their “fully vaccinated” status next year.
- Traffic congestion was reported to have dropped in several cities on the first day of official advice to work from home;
Site crashes during jabs stampede
By Daily Mail Reporter
As Christmas approached, record-breaking numbers of NHS users tried to save their Christmas by booking a booster.
Boris Johnson’s pledge to give all adults a third shot by year’s end triggered an increase in demand, which left some parts of the UK’s healthcare infrastructure struggling to keep up. At some centres, waiting times of as long as five hours were common.
Also, on the edge of the new testing system being introduced, the government was forced to stop temporarily online access for home lateral flow kits. All contacts of people who tested positive to Covid will have to undergo a rapid testing every day for the next week to stop it spreading.
With 749,000 available slots, the weekend witnessed record numbers of booster bookings via the NHS website. Further 110,000 slots were also booked as of yesterday at 9am.
The site started to have problems on Sunday afternoon. After the Prime Minister’s TV speech, there was a surge in bookings. Many people were told that their names had been added to a waiting list. Other people were unsuccessful in reaching this point and received a message saying that technical problems had prevented them from getting there. No10 said yesterday that the site would have more capacity in the coming days to handle the growing demand.
Yesterday’s website crash of the NHS was caused by record number of people trying to book boosters in hopes that they could save Christmas.
- CBI stated that government rhetoric could lead to ‘instilling an order mentality’.
- Downing Street encouraged schools not to close for Christmas early amid reports of chaos and confusion in the classrooms.
- After a photo of the PM hosting a staff quiz, it was revealed that he had violated Covid’s rules.
- Omicron will be the predominant strain in London next week, No10 said after a spike in Omicron cases.
- Because of the ‘exceptionally large demand,’ it was decided to temporarily suspend ordering lateral flow tests.
Following the announcement by NHS of a 10,000-vaccinators recruitment drive last week, over 4,500 registered interest. 13,000 people volunteered.
Jonathan Van-Tam (Deputy chief medical officer) appealed again to those who had volunteered for the jabs rollout.
At the moment, there are 3,000 vaccination sites that are staffed by over 90,000.
Amanda Pritchard, chief executive of the NHS, acknowledged in a letter that routine appointments might have to be delayed to respond to Mr Johnson’s challenge.
Amanda Pritchard, the chief executive at NHS, acknowledged last night that certain routine appointments would have to be delayed in order to respond to Mr Johnson’s challenges.
Then she added, “Some additional appointments will need be postponed until the new Year.” This is because the Omicron wave could become so large that disruptions and cancellations will be more likely if we do not act now.
Miss Pritchard described the NHS’s rollout plans.
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (M&HPA) has established a 15-minute wait after receiving a Moderna or Pfizer jab.
Last week, ministers asked the regulator to reject their request for a reduction in the time-limit.
Whitehall sources said scrapping it is essential for meeting jabs targets because small sites, such as pharmacies and general practitioners surgeries, did not have the space necessary to accommodate more patients. The group is also pushing for the regulator’s assessment of the need to vaccinate children under 12.
- Visit www.england.nhs.uk/JoinVaccineTeam or search ‘NHS vaccine team’ for paid or volunteer roles.