More than 500,000 people received their boosters on Monday – just a day after the prime minister announced plans to offer third jabs to all adults before the end of the year.

A total of 513,722 booster jabs were given, compared with 397,532 administered on Sunday, meaning 24,075,451 people in the UK have now had a booster or third jab.

The latest daily government figures also showed there were 59,610 new infections and 150 further deaths recorded within 28 days of a positive test.

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This is up from the 54,661 cases and 38 deaths reported on Monday.

It comes after the Department of Health and Social announced the 15-minute observation wait for people following a jab would be suspended to help accelerate the rollout of vaccinations.

MHRA chief executive, Dr June Raine said: “In light of the rapid spread of the new Omicron variant and the proven effectiveness of booster doses against Omicron, the 15-minute observation period following mRNA vaccines (Pfizer and Moderna) can be waived during the emergency response to the Omicron variant.

“This advice includes first and second vaccine doses as well as boosters.

“The 15-minute observation period after vaccination will remain in place for the small number of people who may have previously suffered anaphylaxis or other allergic reactions to a food, insect sting and most medicines or vaccines.”

Earlier, NHS England revealed it had taken more than 650,000 booster bookings on Monday.

It was the second highest day for booster bookings as the online service opened to all eligible people aged 30 and above.

A total of 704,148 vaccine appointments were made, including 655,170 for boosters.

This surge in bookings comes as the NHS is accelerating the booster programme in a drive to offer third jabs to all adults by the end of the year.

Around two million invitations were sent to eligible adults on 13 December, encouraging them to come forward for their booster, with millions more invites expected to go out in the coming days.

Dr Emily Lawson, director of the NHS COVID-19 vaccination programme, said: “The NHS COVID-19 vaccination programme, the biggest and most successful in health service history, is once again pulling out all the stops to vaccinate as many as people as possible and at speed.

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“It is fantastic to see such a positive response from the public so far with over 650,000 bookings in one day alone.”

It comes as huge numbers of people have spent hours queuing for their booster jabs for the second day running.

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