The top 10 days for coronavirus vaccination bookings on the NHS website have been revealed by NHS Digital.
More than 8 million appointments in total were made using the online national booking service on 10 separate days in 2021, according to newly released figures.
Topping the chart was 8 June when jabs became available to 25 to 29-year-olds. A total of 1,031,295 appointments were made in 24 hours, making the day a record-breaker for vaccine bookings in England. That equates to almost 43,000 bookings an hour and over 700 each minute.
And 12 months ago, on 6 March, over 971,000 people booked their COVID-19 jab when bookings opened to under 60s (56 to 59-year-olds) – making this the second busiest day.
The Book a Coronavirus (COVID-19) Vaccination service, which is managed by NHS Digital, launched in January 2021 and since then more than 69 million appointments for the lifesaving vaccines have been made online and via the 119 phone line.
The new rundown also shows that 2.3 million bookings were made across three days in December when boosters became available to under 40s on 13 and 14 December, followed by under 30s on 15 December.
The opening of booster appointments for under 30s led to the day becoming the third busiest of the year, with almost 882,000 bookings made in 24 hours.
The fourth most popular day for vaccine bookings was on 8 November with almost 841,000 appointments made. This was the day that the national system was updated to enable people to pre-book booster jabs up to a month sooner.
More than 766,000 bookings were made on 13 April when first jabs opened to 45 to 49-year-olds, making it the fifth most popular day. The other days to make it into the top ten were when first jabs became available to under 21s, 21 and 22-year-olds, and under 55s.
The NHS Digital statistics also show that more than 43,000 vaccine bookings were made on Christmas Day, and thousands of people started the new year by booking a jab as 72,000 appointments were made on New Year’s Day.
James Hawkins, Executive Director of Product Delivery at NHS Digital, said: “These figures show the huge demand for COVID-19 vaccinations and we are immensely proud that the National Booking Service has enabled millions of people to book their crucial jabs quickly and easily.
“Over 971,000 people used the national service to book a jab just over a year ago when we opened appointments for under 60s, and we handled over one million bookings during one day in June when jabs became available to under 30s.
“These record-breaking days for vaccination bookings played an important part in the wider NHS effort to contain the pandemic and save lives.”
NHS Digital leads on technology and data for the NHS’s COVID-19 Vaccination Programme, which is run overall by NHS England and Improvement. NHS Digital’s work includes enabling IT systems to identify people who are eligible for vaccination, inviting them to book their appointments and recording and organising the vaccination data.
Everyone eligible for a vaccination is being urged by the NHS to book, either online via the National Booking Service or by calling 119.
You can also find a walk-in vaccination site, where no appointments are necessary.
