BBC Breakfast: Dan Walker quizzes Javid on booster scheme

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On Sunday, the Prime Minister urged Britons to get their booster jabs against COVID-19 in a pre-recorded message, calling for over one million doses to be administered a day. Britons have responded to the calls, and the threat of the Omicron variant, by joining near-two hour queues to get their booster.

Pictures from London, Kent and Manchester show Britons forming massive queues to get their booster vaccines.

One queue at St Thomas’ Hospital in central London snakes around several streets and the back of the queue is on Westminster Bridge.

According to reports, people at the front of the Westminster vaccine queue say they have been waiting two hours.

Andrew Bowie, Conservative MP for West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine, posted a picture of the massive queue in Westminster, praising Britons for getting their jabs.

He said on Twitter: “From the Library in Parliament. Brilliant to see such a long queue for vaccinations at St Thomas’ Hospital!

“I would wander across and join myself but my booster wouldn’t be registered as two separate systems for Scotland and England.

“Booking mine at 1000 though! #GetBoosted.”

Mr Johnson said on Monday those involved in delivering jabs should be “incredibly proud” of the vaccine rollout.

While visiting a vaccination clinic in west London, he was asked whether the accelerated delivery of the booster programme was too little too late.

He replied: “We now want to hit warp speed and we’ll have to attain a pace and a number of daily booster doses that will exceed anything that we’ve done before.

“But I’ve got no doubt at all that we have the people, we have the enthusiasm, we have the fundamental optimism about what we can do, which we’ve learned from the experience of the last 18 months.

“And I know that people are going to rise to this.”

More than 40 percent of adults in the UK have already had a booster vaccination.

Due to massive demand, the NHS website has reportedly been crashing for Britons attempting to book their booster vaccines.

In a tweet, NHS England said: “The Covid vaccine booking service is currently facing extremely high demand so is operating a queuing system.

“For users aged 18-29, please be aware that booking opens on Wednesday Dec 15.

“For all others experiencing waits, we would advise trying again later today or tomorrow.”

It comes after the Prime Minister launched a “national mission” called Omicron Emergency Boost, and urged Britons to get their booster jabs.

Mr Johnson said on Sunday: “No one should be in any doubt: there is a tidal wave of Omicron coming, and I’m afraid it is now clear that two doses of vaccine are simply not enough to give the level of protection we all need.”

The Prime Minister also announced all eligible people over 18 years old in England will have the chance to get their booster before the end of 2021.

Over-30’s can book their booster jabs from Monday, and over-18’s can book theirs from Wednesday.

On Monday morning, Health Secretary Sajid Javid also warned “two doses are not enough, but three doses provide excellent protection against symptomatic infection”.

He said the UK is expanding its booster programme “to a level we’ve never seen before”.

Mr Javid said this means there will be more vaccination centres, and they will be open seven days a week for at least 12 hours a day, with some staying open for 24 hours.

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