The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Hospital calls in extra staff to cope with rise in demand for vaccine
Extra staff have been deployed to a vaccine clinic in St Andrews as demand for booster jabs grows. A queue built up outside St Andrews Community Hospital by 8am yesterday when the clinic opened for appointments.
One patient said that when he arrived there were nearly 100 people in the queue, which snaked across the hospital’s car park.
It comes during a drive to get booster jabs to everyone eligible by the new year due to rising cases of the Omicron variant.
St Andrews resident Iain Carson was among those waiting to get his booster vaccine yesterday.
He said: “There’s a huge queue – it’s winding all the way around the car park and up the hill.
“Everyone with an appointment appears to be able to walk through, but for the people just turning up hoping to get a booster jab, it looks like a long wait.
“It only opened at 8am, so we thought if we got there at 8am we’d be OK.
“But when we got here, there were nearly 100 people in the queue, and we could see it growing in front of us.
“There will be students hoping to get a jab before they go home, and there are probably people trying to get a jab in before work.
“I don’t know if the queue is going to get smaller later, but I don’t really want to risk it.”
A statement from NHS Fife yesterday said: “Our drop-in vaccination venue at St Andrews Community Hospital is extremely busy this morning, which will likely result in waits for those attending without a scheduled appointment.
“While we have deployed extra staff to the venue, if you already have an appointment booked, we would encourage you to
keep this to avoid queuing and help us manage demand.
“Our staff are working hard to deliver vaccines as safely and efficiently as possible, and we appreciate your patience.”
The booster programme has been extended this week for people in their 20s and 30s.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon yesterday urged Scots to get their booster jabs as soon as possible,
while other advice around social interactions in the lead-up to Christmas has also been issued.
On Wednesday the UK reported its highest number of daily Covid cases since the pandemic began, with 78,610 people testing positive.
There was also a significant rise in cases across Tayside and Fife of those testing positive with the Omicron variant of the virus.