Hundreds of thousands of Britons lined up to get their Covid booster jabs today - and were ready to wait for up to FIVE HOURS.
As the fight against the Omicron variant stepped up across the country, long queues appeared outside vaccination centres.
From London to Brighton, Manchester to Sheffield, they waited patiently - at a social distance - as the hard-pressed NHS attempted to double the daily jab rate to 1m.
The Prime Minister admitted the new variant accounted for 40 percent of all new cases in the capital today, but would be the most dominant in London by Tuesday.
Health Secretary Sajid Javid pledged to “throw everything” at the booster programme as Omicron spread like wildfire.
Across the Thames from Parliament, at St Thomas’ Hospital, Jeremy Doughty, 38, an international educator, was happy to wait.
“I know that the queue is five hours, but I’ll be doing some travelling during the holiday season,” he said. “I’m originally from the US, I’m planning to go back on the 22nd. I’ll just feel more confident if I have the booster jab.
“I do have concern about the Omicron variant. I work with international undergraduate students who come to the UK and I know they have a fear as well.
“Many of them won’t be able to get their booster jabs until they return to the US. So I’m making the choice to stand in the queue for five hours to get my jab, just because of my level of anxiety.”
Full-time student Parina Haresh Mehta, 24, also in the queue, added: “Getting the vaccine makes more sense for people our age, especially at uni.
“We’re going to work and to pubs, it makes life easier for people around us. It’s easier for us to get on with our lives.
“It’s really good that they’ve taken the initiative. I know it’s five hours. But if that means we can go home, visit our families, it’s worth it.”
Online bookings for over-30s open on Tuesday, while 18-29 year-olds will be able to book their booster jabs from Wednesday.
At least 750,000 people booked booster appointments over the weekend. In Hungerford, Berkshire, there were queues of about 4-5 hours. “I need to get back to pick up the kids from school,” said one mum.
“So I cannot wait.” At Haynes Motor Museum, near Yeovil, Somerset, the wait was just 45 minutes. One woman said: “We want to do the right thing by getting it as quickly as possible.”
In Greenwich, London, about 200 people waited for their centre to open while in nearby Deptford, a clinic closed early after running out of vaccine.
Health chiefs across Leicestershire told of a ‘surge’ in demand. But Sonia Watkinson said the queue was a ‘lot shorter’ than she had expected at the Merridale Centre in Leicester.
Hundreds queued up in Kidlington, Oxon; Whalley Range, Manchester; Sevenoaks, Kent; Wimbledon Centre Court shopping centre, and in Lye, near Stourbridge, West Midlands.
More than half a million booster jabs and third doses were given in the UK on Saturday, the second day that has happened since the booster rollout began.
Some 750 armed forces personnel will help. England’s deputy chief medical officer Prof Jonathan Van-Tam has written to previous Covid volunteers to ask if they can return to help with the booster programme.
Scotland is also aiming to offer booster appointments to all over-18s by the end of the year. Wales is looking to meet the same target. In Northern Ireland, over-30s are now eligible for booster jabs.
An NHS Digital spokesperson confirmed the vaccine booking service was facing extremely high demand and was operating a queuing system to manage numbers.
No 10 said the NHS was making sure there was “further capacity” on the website to book booster jabs in an effort to “adapt to the increased demand”.
