MORE than 15,000 people turned up for jabs at Twickenham Stadium today after a vaccine free-for-all for anyone over 18.
Queues at the London rugby stadium were “longer than Glastonbury” as tens of thousands of young people turned up in the hopes of getting their first shot.
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Images taken today show visitors waiting patiently for the one-time-only event as temperatures soared to 25C today.
Anyone under the age of 30 was invited to come along for a jab as health chiefs tried to shift doses to meet targets.
It sparked a late rush to the stadium this evening as many Brits not yet on the NHS list for vaccinations tried to get inoculated.
However, volunteers doling out jabs have been forced to turn people away.
It comes as:
- Only one UK death was recorded in 24 hours, but 3,383 more people have tested positive for the virus
- Cases of the Indian variant diagnosed in Bolton have fallen more than 10 per cent in four days after health chiefs deployed surge testing
- Brit spies are ‘recruiting Chinese whistleblowers on the darkweb’ for intel on fears Covid leaked from a Wuhan lab
- Fully-vaccinated people who catch Covid may STILL be able pass on variants, it’s feared
- Half of adults in the UK will have been vaccinated with both jabs by the end of the week
Organisers say there are now enough people in the queue to use up all available doses.
Kira Lewis, who had been queueing outside the stadium since 5.15pm, said she was “gutted” after being turned away.
“We were queuing since 5.15pm and at 7pm they’ve just told us they’ve run out,” she said.
“Absolutely gutted. Thousands have just been turned away.
“Boris Johnson, make them available to everyone now.”
At the moment, Government rules say that only people over 30 are eligible to have the vaccine.
But at 3pm, officials announced: “Thousands of people vaccinated at Twickenham Stadium today.
“Still spaces and vaccine left: now open to all 18 and over who can get here before 7.30pm.”
It’s understood vaccinators had extra supplies of the Pfizer vaccine, which must be stored at ultra-low temperatures and spoils more quickly than AstraZeneca’s jab.
Student Flo Flake-Parsons, 24 and of Chiswick in west London, got her inoculation today.
She said: “It has been a really rubbish time for everyone and this is a good step back towards normality.”
The Government is hoping to plough through the roll-out as quickly as possible amid the spread of the Indian mutation, which is threatening ‘freedom day’.
And all over-50s will be offered a second jab in the coming weeks to try and ensure the UK can throw off its final lockdown restrictions on June 21.
Around five million people aged over 50 are currently waiting for their second dose, meaning the NHS must vaccinate 225,000 of them a day to meet the target.
However, second jabs were doled out at a rate of 400,000 a day for the majority of last week – meaning the idea is realistic.
Vaccines Minister Nadhim Zahawi told the BBC’s Andrew Marr: “We are in a race between vaccinating at scale and making sure people get their two doses.
“We saw very good data from Public Health England around the protection from two doses, either of Pfizer or of AstraZeneca.
“We hope to be able to protect with two doses – all ‘one to nine’ [priority groups], all the over-50s – before June 21. We will make sure we vaccinate at scale.
“But – and here’s the important thing – we will share the evidence with the country on June 14 to basically explain exactly where we are on infection rates, hospitalisations and of course, sadly, of death.”
Only three per cent of those infected with the Indian variant had been double jabbed, according to official statistics.
It means there’s growing confidence the vaccines currently available can deal with the mutation.
