Boris Johnson just announced that he wants to accelerate the booster dose rollout in the coming weeks – but there are already reports of the campaign stalling.
The government has made it clear that the booster programme is now Britain’s primary form of defence against the new Covid variant Omicron.
As it aims to offer all adults a booster by the end of December, the NHS will have to provide another vaccine dose to around one million people a day over the next few weeks.
The prime minister also claimed people aged 18 and over can now get a booster jab from a walk-in centre or they can book in their booster dose online from Wednesday. Those aged 30 to 39 are eligible to book today.
However, major problems already seem to have cropped up less than 24 hours after the prime minister declared the new government slogan to “Get Boosted Now”.
1. NHS staff allegedly only found out about the new campaign as it was announced
Some people claim NHS staff only became aware of the ambitious new campaign – expected to stretch the health service when it is already on its knees – at the same time as the general public.
If this allegation is true, it means the health service will not have had time to plan out the logistics of the huge national operation.
The government has promised that the Army will be called in to assist, as will more volunteers and pharmacies.
2. The NHS website is crashing
The NHS website has repeatedly crashed due to high demand, meaning people have been unable to book their vaccinations.
According to the BBC’s Charlotte Rose, more than 100,000 people tried to book a vaccine on Monday morning which is why the site crashed.
The health service tweeted: “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 15 Dec. For all others experiencing waits, we would advise trying again later today or tomorrow.”
A team is reportedly looking at the system and trying to “get it back up and running ASAP”.
3. Johnson’s miscommunication over the deadline
Johnson initially promised that everyone over 18 “will have the chance to get their booster before the New Year” during his Sunday announcement.
Yet the health service has promised to “offer every adult the chance to book” by December 31, meaning plenty of jabs will only be able to take place in January and February.
The Department of Health later clarified and said the promise is to “offer” boosters by the end of December, but not to “deliver” them – only for No.10′s spokesperson to double down and say that the aim is for all eligible adults to receive the jab by New Year’s Eve.
4. Non-urgent treatment to be postponed
Health secretary Sajid Javid confirmed that the NHS will have to postpone some treatment in order to prioritise the vaccine rollout in the coming weeks.
He said: “Anyone who has got some elective surgery planned, for example, that can be postponed until the new year.
“That might mean a knee operation or a hip operation, something that sadly someone has probably been waiting for a long time in any case, but the hospital concerned would have the right to postpone it if it meant they could get a lot more booster jabs done.”
He added: “These decisions are not easy, but at any one time there is only limited capacity in the NHS.”
The health service is already stretched due to the backlog built up throughout the pandemic, so there are major concerns about how this additional delay could affect the public health in other ways.
5. No more lateral flows
The lateral flow home test kits were unavailable on the Gov.uk website on Monday morning.
The shortage comes after Downing Street said people who were contacts of positive Covid cases should do daily lateral flow tests rather than isolate for 10 days, as long as they have no symptoms.
However, there have been no reports of a PCR test shortage.