Walk-in booster jab: Huge queues form on second day of Covid vaccine drive – but some people turned away

Lengthy queues have already begun to form outside walk-in vaccination clinics for a the second day following the Government’s pledge to offer one to all over-18s by the end of December.

The queue for walk-in jabs at the Centre Court Shopping Centre in Wimbledon, south-west London, was snaking around the entire top floor and back to the entrance, while some people have already been turned away from a clinic in Swindon, Wiltshire.

At St Thomas’ Hospital near Parliament in central London, people began queuing before the clinic opened at 8am and the line was snaked across Westminster Bridge for a second day.

Monday saw some people waiting in line for up to five hours to get their jab as Britons responded to a call-up from Boris Johnson to get their booster vaccines as soon as possible.

He announced on Sunday night that anyone over-18 who had their second dose at least three months ago could attend a clinic to get their booster from Monday. The NHS booking system will open to all over-18s who had their booster three months ago from Wednesday.

One man said that his partner queued outside Sanford House in Swinford but was turned away after just half an hour as there were too many people.

Swindon Borough Council issued a statement, saying: “Demand for the Covid-19 booster vaccine is currently very high, and as a result we have seen a very large turnout for the Sanford House vaccine clinic being held today.

“The queues for the clinic are already incredibly long and people are having to be turned away.”

Images on social media of Bristol walk-in centre showed large crowds waiting there too.

On Monday, Mr Johnson visited a vaccination centre near Paddington in London after urging the nation the night before to get vaccinated as soon as possible after warning about a “tidal wave of Omicron” that could cause “very many deaths”.

Speaking during his visit, he said: “Throughout the pandemic I’ve been at great pains to stress to the public that we have to watch where the pandemic is going and we take whatever steps are necessary to protect public health.”

He also confirmed that at least one person in the UK has died with the Omicron variant.