Covid-19: Christmas Day vaccines to be offered across London

Croydon University Hospital will be open until 13:00 GMT on Christmas Day

Londoners will be able to get jabbed over the festive period thanks to an army of vaccine volunteers.

Croydon University Hospital, which says 50 members of the public have signed up for a Christmas Day vaccine, is one of many sites offering jabs this weekend.

The south London hospital will be open between 09:00 and 13:00 GMT.

"It will be a fun atmosphere and we're really looking forward to welcoming people," said Becky Board, associate director of operations.

A full list of vaccine walk-in sites is available, or people can book appointments online.

The booster drive comes as Mayor of London Sadiq Khan declared a major incident in the capital earlier in the week, partly due to pressure on the NHS.

• How many cases in my area?

• What are the new Covid rules for the UK?

• NHS Covid absences doubled last week in London

Ms Board said first, second and booster vaccines would be available.

She said: "We were really surprised that the capacity we put out was very quickly snapped up, which is absolutely great, which shows us that people really do want to come forward and be vaccinated.

"We're hoping that more take the opportunity to come and get the vaccine on the day, and we would welcome people."

Asked about the challenge of persuading people to volunteer, Ms Board described it as "relatively easy".

"I said to the staff 'Is anybody up for this?' and quite quickly I had names on the list to say 'Yep, I'm there - I want to do it'," she added.

Non-urgent operations are already being cancelled across the capital's hospitals due to the Omicron surge leading to rising staff absences.