Public health officials have decided to cancel a number of Covid walk-in vaccination clinics this week because of "significant demand".

Vaccination centres have been incredibly busy after Prime Minister Boris Johnson urged people to get a booster jab in the wake of the Omicron variant.

It led to long queues for vaccines at sites across Hertfordshire including at Watford town hall.

As a result, the county's NHS clinical commissioning groups (CCG) have decided to cancel walk-ins, urging people to book a jab instead.

In a statement, the CCG's said: "We have taken the decision to cancel a number of planned vaccination walk-in sessions in Hertfordshire and west Essex this week.

"Significant demand is leading to unacceptably long queues for the public and causing traffic disruption around our larger vaccination centre sites.

"Please don’t leave home without checking below to find out whether a walk-in session is still planned."

A spokesperson for the Hertfordshire and west Essex integrated care system confirmed to the Observer Watford town hall is one of the locations where walk-ins have had to be scaled back.

At the time of writing (December 14), the clinic won't be accepting any walk-ins until this weekend (December 18 +19).

Dr Rachel Joyce, from the Hertfordshire and West Essex Sustainability and Transformation Partnership, said: "We are keeping walk-in arrangements under review and have temporarily reduced the number of walk-in clinics this week.

"Walk-in sessions are aimed solely at very local residents. Staff will monitor queues and once the capacity of a vaccination session has been reached, queues will be closed to ensure that everybody already queuing can be vaccinated.

"If you are planning to attend a walk-in clinic, please wrap up warmly and come prepared for a wait. If waiting will be difficult or uncomfortable for you because of your personal circumstances, please book an appointment instead."

Appointments can be booked online via the NHS website or by calling 119.

Bookable vaccination slots are already available in Hertfordshire in more than 30 community pharmacies as well as in large vaccination centres, with GPs contacting patients as well.

The public health body added more walk-ins will be planned and scheduled for Hertfordshire over the next fortnight.

In England, a booster Covid vaccine is available to everyone aged 18 or over from this week as long as the second dose was at least three months ago.

Over-30s can already book a booster online and, from Wednesday December 15, this will be extended to over-18s.

For the most up-to-date information on walk-in Covid vaccine clinics locally visit https://covid.healthierfuture.org.uk/events/vaccination-walk-in-clinic-times