Over-50s can now book a Covid booster without NHS invitation

Over-50s can now book a Covid booster – even if they have not received an NHS invite – within a week of becoming eligible for the third jab, the Health Secretary confirmed on Wednesday.

The change follows complaints that many old and vulnerable people were being turned away from clinics because they had not been sent an official invitation, even though it had been six months since their second dose.

At a press conference from Downing Street on Wednesday, Sajid Javid said the booster jab was crucial for keeping cases low and avoiding restrictions this winter, as he also promised more pop-up vaccine centres to keep uptake high.

“We got the jabs, we just need the arms to put them in,” he said. “If you’re over 50 or in another priority group and had your second jab over six months ago you’re eligible for a booster and the NHS will send you an invite.

“If you haven’t been invited within a week of reaching that six-month milestone then please, get on to the National Booking Service and book online or phone 119.

He added: “We really could lose that progress if people don’t take up their vaccination offers.”

NHS England confirmed that nearly 200,000 boosters were given on Wednesday, taking the total to just over four million.

However, the Covid-19 Actuaries Response Group, which is monitoring the rollout, said there were still around five million eligible people who were unjabbed.

Pop-up vaccine centres, such as the Brent Mosque in north London, will be reopened to help with the backlog, it was confirmed on Wednesday night. Earlier this week, Matt Hancock, the former health secretary, queried in the House of Commons why the mosque had been closed.

Several people on the eligible list contacted The Telegraph to say they had not been sent invitations or they had been invited too early for a jab, and were turned away at vaccination centres.

Mandy Poulson, a retired practice nurse, said: “My 83-year-old father had his second Covid vaccine at his local GP on March 31 which [puts] him past the six months post-second jab.

“He has not had an invite yet for his booster. I rang the booking line and they said you can only book if you have had an invite which Dad hasn’t. So in short we are being advised by the Government to book the booster vaccines when eligible but when you try you can’t.”

Chris Goodwin, from Northamptonshire, said he and his 87-year-old mother are both eligible for their boosters but have not received the letter.

“My mother had [the] run around from the GP,” he said. “Eventually at about 11.30 this morning, after several phone calls, we discovered her second jab was never recorded so her letter for a booster has not been triggered.”

Myles Hoyle, 76, said he received a text message from his GP on Oct 4 but when he booked for his booster at the Holiday Inn in Winchester he was told it was only 170 days since his second dose.

“I was asked: ‘Why was I there? Had I been invited?’ It made me feel as if I was queue jumping. Then they said: ‘See you in 10 days’. I left.”

Last week Portcullis Surgery, in Ludlow, was forced to apologise and cancel appointments for 50 patients who were sent texts too early.

Dame Kate Bingham, the former vaccines tsar, said she did not know what was causing the delays but urged older people to “bang on doors” to get their top-up jab.

Speaking at The Telegraph’s Women Mean Business event she said: “I do think it’s important for those people who are vulnerable and at risk to get a booster, and the data is unequivocal.

“Older people and vulnerable people with disease should be banging on the doors to get their boosters. “

Prof Stephen Powis, the national medical director for NHS England, added: “Boosters could really not be more important.

“The booster is not some sort of add-on, it’s a really critical part of maintaining immunity and if we don’t maintain that level of immunity we will see that translating into more hospital admissions, more pressure and more deaths.”