Covid vaccine: Scores of over 25s unable to book jab despite being called forward
Scores of over 25s have been unable to book coronavirus vaccines despite being told by the health secretary that they would be able to from Tuesday.Numerous social media users aged 25-29 have complained that they're either in a queue of thousands or have been told they are "not currently eligible" for an appointment.
On Monday, health secretary Matt Hancock announced that this specific age group would be able to book jabs from Tuesday.
He told MPs the vaccine remained the best way out of the pandemic.
On Tuesday morning, Twitter was flooded with reports of system issues.
"I’m 26 years old trying to book my vaccine now 25-29 year olds are allowed and keep getting this message after being the the queue 20 minutes over two attempts, anyone else having this problem?" one user tweeted.
Journalist Moya Lothian-Mclean quipped: "Bf (28, m) has booked his vaccine but I (26, f) am not yet eligible according to the NHS site...is this age gap too wide?"Twitter user Ryan O'Grady had a more serious take - he called the issue a "really dangerous error".
"The vaccine booking system is not letting 25 and 26 year olds book. This is a really dangerous error - the young are ubiquitously (and erroneously) blamed for spreading it with abandon, and questions about why were hesitant to get vaccinated - now the system is locking us out?" he tweeted.
When ITV News attempted to book a jab shortly before 8.30am on Tuesday, we were told we were number 5486 in a queue.
A spokesperson for NHS Digital said: “Large numbers of people are currently booking their vaccine appointments through the NHS website, which means you may need to wait in a queue.
“We know that some people have been receiving an ineligible message when trying to book, which is being fixed now, so please retry.”
The Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England have also been asked to comment.
As well as encouraging 25-29-year-olds to get their jab, Mr Hancock urged schoolchildren to continue getting their coronavirus tests twice weekly.
It comes as numbers of cases have continued to rise after the Delta variant, first detected in India, became the dominant strain in the country.
Case rates are rising in more local areas of the UK than at any point since early January, with numbers increasing in almost all parts of north-west England, London and Scotland.
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