UK: NHS website crashes as thousands rush to register for COVID-19 booster jabs

The United Kingdom, on December 13, witnessed huge queues outside COVID-19 vaccination centres, with several citizens being forced to return without getting jabbed after the National Health Service's (NHS) website collapsed, local media reported. 

On Monday, NHS officials urged people who were desperate to receive their COVID-19 booster shot to try again the next day (December 14), Sky News reported. Hundreds of thousands of individuals rushed to obtain their third dose less than two weeks before Christmas, just hours after Boris Johnson announced that the booster programme would be available to all UK adults starting today (December 13).

Those aged 30 and up in the UK can now book their vaccines online on the NHS website. Those aged 18 to 29 can do so from Wednesday. Additionally, all UK adults can now go to any walk-in centre to get inoculated with the COVID-19 vaccine. However, Politico, quoting sources, reported that the new growth plan will centre on walk-ins rather than online bookings, adding that anybody attempting to make an appointment on the website will have to wait until after Christmas.

NHS website down as citizens rush to register for COVID vaccination

Meanwhile, enormous queues formed outside pharmacies, hospitals, and temporary vaccine sites in the United Kingdom this morning, with particularly long lines forming outside London's St Thomas' Hospital and Guy's Hospital, according to various local media reports.

It should be mentioned here that Prime Minister Boris Johnson acknowledged in a public statement last night that he had accelerated the booster programme, with the deadline for all people to receive a third vaccination being pushed back by a month.

PM Johnson warned of a 'tidal wave' of COVID that might overwhelm the NHS and cause "very many deaths," and informed the Army will be pulled in and clinic hours will be extended to help dose 18 million people by January 1.

Johnson said that the 'Omicron variant' necessitated COVID-19 booster shots to defend the freedoms and way of life. Thousands of people hurried to secure appointments within minutes of his announcement, causing the NHS website to breakdown.

Then, soon after 7 am on December 13, the NHS website put users in an online queue of over 5,000 people, claiming that many people were trying to book an appointment. By 10 am, the online wait had grown to nearly 10,000 people, but the website was still not allowing citizens to make appointments due to high demand. 

(With inputs from agencies, Image: AP)