Half a million booster jabs given out in one day as UK battles Omicron

14 December 2021, 16:32 | Updated: 15 December 2021, 07:52

Brits have queued for hours for their booster vaccine dose
Brits have queued for hours for their booster vaccine dose. Picture: Alamy

By Will Taylor

More than half a million booster jabs were given on Monday as the UK ramps up its “national mission” to fight against the Omicron variant.

Listen to this article

Loading audio...

Government figures show a day-on-day rise of 513,722 jabs after the country's Covid alert level rose to its second-highest - level four.

Meanwhile, in a bid to speed up the time it takes to get doses in arms, the 15-minute post-vaccination wait will also be scrapped for anyone who gets Pfizer or Moderna.

People had usually been asked to stay behind after a jab to make sure they didn’t suffer a rare allergic reaction.

But that has been dropped after huge queues built up outside vaccine centres on Sunday – demonstrating Britons’ determination to protect themselves from the Omicron variant.

It comes after Boris Johnson announced the Omicron Emergency Boost in a speech to the nation on Sunday, describing it as a "national mission unlike anything we have seen before in the vaccination programme".

Read more: Huge demand for Covid boosters as all adults in England become eligible

Read more: All countries removed from red list as travel measures 'less effective' stopping Omicron arriving

Four hour long queue for booster vaccine in Bristol

"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," he said.

"But the good news is that our scientists are confident that with a third dose – a booster dose – we can all bring our level of protection back up.

Figures on Tuesday showed that 24 million boosters and third doses – with the latter referring to jabs for the immunocompromised – have been given out so far.

That represented a rise of 513,722 from Sunday.

In total, more than 51 million first doses have been distributed, as have 46 million second jabs.

Meanwhile, the chief medical officers from all four countries said the move to scrap the 15-minute post-vaccine wait is a "temporary measure on the grounds of public health need to protect as many citizens as possible over a short period of time".

Sturgeon: Cut socialising and limit gatherings before Xmas

"The 15-minute wait should therefore be suspended for first, second and homologous or heterologous boost vaccinations with mRNA vaccine given the current situation, with this operationalised in line with the needs in each of the four nations," the chiefs said.

"The long-term decisions on the 15-minute wait, when the current need for extreme speed of vaccination and boosting is over, should rest with the Commission on Human Medicines (CHM), the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) and the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI)."

More Latest News

See more More Latest News

Westfield Stratford

'Could've killed someone': Police investigating after viral video shows teen throwing footrest from top floor of shopping centre

Breaking
The BBC has pulled the documentary from iPlayer while it does more 'due diligence'

Gaza TV show ‘a dagger to the heart of the BBC,’ committee hears

McDonnell Douglas Boeing F-15E Strike Eagle, strike fighter and bomber based at RAF lakenheath, Suffolk UK

US set to house nuclear weapons in Britain for first time in decades - at location 'targeted by Russian drones'

Racing commentator John Hunt raised the alarm after finding his wife Carol, 61, and two daugthers seriously injured at their home in Bushey

Crossbow triple killer ‘raped ex in act of spite’ before murdering family of racing commentator, court hears

A woman died after falling from a hotel near Waterloo

Woman, 45, falls to her death from hotel near Waterloo station

Undated TV still from With Love, Meghan. Pictured: Meghan, Duchess of Sussex. See PA Feature SHOWBIZ Download Reviews. WARNING: This picture must only be used to accompany PA Feature SHOWBIZ Download Reviews.

'I'm Sussex now': Meghan Markle says she's missed her ‘creativity’ as new lifestyle series lands on Netflix

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen speaks during a media conference on the defense package at EU headquarters in Brussels, Tuesday, March 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)

Europe 'is in an era of re-armament', says Ursula Von Der Leyen announcing 800 billion euro boost to defence spending

JD Vance dismissed the UK and French peacekeeping plan as 'troops from a random country'

Twenty thousand troops from 'some random country' won't bring peace, JD Vance dismisses Starmer's peace plan

Tributes paid to 'wisest comedy alchemist' as Spitting Image star and Dead Ringers producer dies in tragic 'accident'

Tributes paid to 'wisest comedy alchemist' as Spitting Image star and Dead Ringers producer dies in tragic 'accident'

BRITAIN-HEALTH-FOOD-OBESITY

More than half of adults and third of children to be overweight or obese by 2050

SPAIN-ACCIDENT

Brits among 51 injured after buses collide in Barcelona

Carl Dean, Dolly Parton's husband of nearly 60 years, died on Monday in Nashville, Tennessee aged 82

Carl Dean, husband of country music superstar Dolly Parton for nearly 60 years, dies aged 82

Donald Trump has paused all military aid to Ukraine

Trump pauses all military aid to Ukraine as he demands Zelenskyy show 'commitment to peace' following clash

Donald Trump

White House 'drawing up plans to ease sanctions against Russia' after Trump launches fresh attack against Zelenskyy

Donald Trump speaks in the Roosevelt Room of the White House

US tariffs on Canada and Mexico to go ahead as Trump says 'no room left' for negotiation

TV still from With Love, Meghan

Meghan insists she's not an influencer or tradwife as she opens up about Montecito life ahead of Netflix show