On Tuesday morning, as eligible Brits rushed online to make their appointments, they were instead met with a notice telling them that the NHS was “experiencing technical difficulties.”
Some people managed to gain access to the site and even enter their booking details, only to experience other issues that prevented them from confirming the appointment.
“Vaccine booking website crashed after I seemingly booked & entered an email for confirmation. Now, no email & I haven't the booking ref. number so am in limbo not knowing if I have an appointment,” complained one man, while others were allegedly offered appointments up to 60 miles (97km) away.
Later on Tuesday morning, UK Covid Vaccine Deployment Minister Nadhim Zahawi announced that the problems had been “fixed,” though some Brits still experienced issues that prevented them from making an appointment.
“Got all the way through to the end, entered contact details and then it crashed,” claimed one user. “Now I can't get back in to book again as it keeps asking for a booking reference, which I don't have!”
England is now beginning to roll out the Moderna vaccine, after the UK recently obtained 17 million doses. The vaccine joins AstraZeneca and Pfizer's Covid-19 jabs – the first to be approved in the UK – in the nationwide vaccination programme.