NHS leaders doubt target for Covid boosters in England will be met
NHS leaders have expressed doubt about meeting Boris Johnson’s target to offer all eligible adults in England a booster shot by the end of the year, as the UK recorded its first death with the Omicron coronavirus variant.
The NHS will have to be capable of distributing 18m booster jabs in England in under three weeks to meet the government target. This will require it to beat its daily record from March of 756,000 jabs in a single day for the remainder of the year.
The vaccine booking website crashed early on Monday because of a surge in visitors. An NHS Digital spokesperson advised people struggling to book “to try again later today or tomorrow”.
People were also unable to order rapid antigen tests online after the booking platform was “temporarily suspended to fulfil existing orders”, the UK Health Security Agency said, attributing the move to “exceptionally high demand”.
The prime minister urged the public on Monday to take up the offer of a third dose before year-end, saying: “The best thing we can do is all get our boosters.” He also called on the public to “set on one side” the notion that Omicron was less severe.
“Sadly . . . Omicron is producing hospitalisations and sadly at least one patient has been confirmed to have died with Omicron,” Johnson said, speaking during a visit to a vaccination clinic in west London. Some 10 patients are in hospital with Omicron.
Downing Street said the government target is that “everyone eligible will have a chance to get their booster before new year”, either through booking an appointment or at a vaccine walk-in centre.
Long queues formed outside walk-in centres across London as people responded to the call to get a booster shot. Yas Davami, 34, said she had decided to endure a four-hour wait at St Thomas’ Hospital after being unable to book online.
“I went online and there appeared to be no appointments until mid-January and not everywhere is offering walk-ins”, said Davami.
The UKHSA said on Monday another 1,576 Omicron cases had been recorded across the UK in the previous 24 hours, taking the national total to 4,713 cases.
Health secretary Sajid Javid told the House of Commons that daily infections were estimated at 200,000 a day, adding that NHS England had returned to its highest level of emergency preparedness.
The NHS reported that 397,532 booster jabs were administered on Sunday, the most for a Sunday and 37 per cent more than seven days previously. Meanwhile, 54,661 new Covid-19 cases were recorded across the UK on Monday, up from 51,459 the previous Monday.
Javid also said that “once all adults have had a reasonable chance to get their booster jab” the definition of fully vaccinated would be changed to include a third dose.
NHS leaders welcomed the government’s booster rollout target but warned that achieving it would prove challenging for the stretched health service.
“I’d be very surprised if it can all be done by the end of December,” said Martin Marshall, chair of the Royal College of General Practitioners, who added that GPs would “make or break” the success of the rollout.
Owing to the “knackered” primary care workforce, he said the government target would only be “achievable” if extra staff were redeployed from hospital outpatient clinics and there was a “call to arms” for help from retirees and medical students.
Saffron Cordery, deputy chief executive of NHS Providers, said it was “unlikely” all 18m people would have “actually received” a booster shot by the end of the year but she added that the campaign to meet the target “would help make significant inroads into those numbers”.
“It’s going to be incredibly tough because the health service is so stretched, but all of the tasks we’ve faced over the past two years have been incredibly tough,” she added.
Matthew Taylor, chief executive of NHS Confederation, which represents organisations across the healthcare sector, said it may also prove difficult to convince all 18m people of the need for a booster over the festive period. “Demand could be held back by inertia, busyness or just so many people having the virus and having to self-isolate,” he said.
“As long as the government gets right all of the things it’s promised, it’s not going to be the supply that’s the issue, it will be the demand,” he said.
Javid admitted on Monday that non-urgent surgery in England would be postponed until the new year, but insisted that cancer testing and treatment would be “completely unaffected” by the NHS vaccine drive.
Around 650 military personnel will support the rollout in England, the Ministry of Defence announced, in addition to the 100 already deployed in Scotland. Javid said vaccine centres would be open “at least 12 hours a day” every day except Christmas Day.