Thousands of people are queuing online to book their Covid-19 boosters after the programme was expanded to over-18s.

The national booking system has been extended to all adults in England, having been opened to over-30s on Monday.

People booking through the NHS website are being told to wait in a virtual queue for around 10 minutes due to a huge surge in demand.

However, some people have reported waiting up to 30 minutes to book their slot while others are stuck in a queue for the queue.

Some who patiently waited were sent back to the bottom if they didn’t enter their NHS number on time once at the front of the pack.

Huge queues have also formed outside vaccine walk-in centres across the UK with some people waiting in line for up to five hours yesterday.

The rush to be boosted comes after the Government pledged to offer everyone a chance to book their top-up dose before December 31 to stop a ‘tidal wave’ of infections caused by the new Omicron variant.

The first people to join the line at St Thomas’ Hospital in London arrived at around 6am this morning despite the centre not opening until 8am.

Early data has shown two doses of a vaccine is not enough to protect against the mutant strain, but a booster dose can stop 70-75% of serious illnesses.

People are eligible for a booster three months after their second vaccine but they can book after two months.

So far, more than 24 million booster doses have been administered across the UK, with a record 513,722 booster and third doses given on Monday.

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Health officials have said they will offer boosters at ‘extreme speed’ after the need for staff to monitor patients for 15 minutes post-jab was scrapped.

Health Secretary Sajid Javid has promised vaccine sites will now be open seven days a week, some for at least 12 hours a day, and others for even longer.

The prime minister’s spokesman confirmed this will include Christmas Day, when there will still be ‘appointments available’, despite low demand.

In a new television advert to support the ‘turbo-charged’ rollout, Chief Medical Officer Prof Chris Whitty urges the public to ‘please, get boosted now’ in the face of the Omicron, which he said was ‘highly infectious and spreading fast’.

‘Boosters give you the best possible protection against the virus and should significantly reduce your risk of serious illness and hospitalisation,’ he said.

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There is still uncertainty on what impact Omicron will have, so the Government wants as many people to be boosted as possible a wave hits.

The South African doctor who discovered the variant has urged the UK to stay calm insisting symptoms are much milder than previous strains.

But government scientists say infections could soon reach one million a day and lead to a rise in hospital admissions.

Dr Susan Hopkins, a senior health official, told the Commons science and technology on Tuesday that the Omicron Covid variant was initially doubling every two to three days but the pace appeared to have sped up, driving a surge of disease that risked putting ‘significant’ pressure on the NHS.

She said: ‘If we have a million infections a day, even a very small proportion of those individuals requiring hospitalisation will put a significant impact on healthcare.’

Professor Graham Medley, a member of the government’s scientific advisory group (SAGE), echoed those concerns when he said there is a ‘real possibility’ hospitals could be overwhelmed, despite the roll-out of the vaccine.

He explained: ‘The fact that we are much more immune than we were generally means that the virus will appear to be much less severe.

‘So, individually, we have a much lower risk but the numbers of infections means that even though individually we’re at less risk, at a population level (the) number of people ending up in hospital could get very large.’

Last night, Prime Minister Boris Johnson wrote to NHS staff asking for their help delivering the ‘biggest, fastest vaccination programme this country has ever seen’.

He said that evidence suggests two vaccine jabs do not provide enough protection so all adults will need to be offered a booster before the end of the year.

‘I know this will not be easy. I know that you are tired and weary. But you know how critical it is that we get Britain boosted, and fast,’ he wrote

‘For our part, I can assure you that this Government will do whatever it takes to give you the support you need, and that the whole nation is right behind you, willing you to succeed.’

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