COVID-19: Is it possible to offer every over-18 a booster vaccine dose by New Year's Eve?

Everyone over the age of 18 in England has been promised they can book their coronavirus booster appointment by the end of this year.

In a televised address on Sunday evening, Prime Minister Boris Johnson promised to deliver up to a million vaccine doses a day to ensure everyone eligible is offered a slot a month earlier than planned.

As part of the "Omicron emergency national mission" he asked NHS staff "to make another extraordinary effort" to meet the new target. This will include more vaccine centres and walk-in sites with extended opening hours, "thousands" more volunteers to deliver jabs and help from the military to oversee operations.

However, COVID ICU anaesthetist Dr Ed Patrick told Sky News there are already staff shortages "all over" the NHS, including intensive care, with boosters threatening to make them even worse.

"It's a massive concern," he said. "You're taking a really scant resource and then you're pushing it elsewhere, which means that other services get cut."

Pat Cullen, general secretary of the Royal College of Nursing, said she is worried about the "scale and pace" of the new rollout, as the "same nurses are already facing huge demands under existing unsustainable pressures".

While Chris Hopson, chief executive of NHS providers, warned the health service is "already beyond full stretch" and the changes would see more procedures postponed in the coming days.

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Source: Sky News, 13 December 2021