Number of jabs will need to double daily to meet PM’s pledge
THE North East will need to double the number of vaccines being delivered each day in order to meet the target of giving every eligible adult a Covid-19 booster jab by the end of the year.
Boris Johnson announced a massive acceleration of the booster programme on Sunday night, in a bid to combat the Omicron variant rapidly sweeping across the country.
Over-30s in England who had their second dose of a vaccine at least three months ago can now book a booster online and, from Wednesday, this will be extended to over-18s – as the Government targets getting a booster to every adult who wants one by the end of 2021.
The move has sparked major concerns at how exhausted and stretched NHS staff can deliver on that pledge, with long queues outside vaccination centres already seen on Monday and problems with the online booking system.
North East health chiefs are urging people to book a vaccine appointment online as soon as possible, rather than turn up to walk-in clinics, and not to clog up GP surgery phone lines with booster questions as doctors “won’t be able to answer”.
NHS bosses in the region confirmed that opening hours for vaccine centres will be extended and that extra mobile and pop-up clinics will also be rolled out, in order to boost capacity by 50% this week and by 100% soon after.
Latest NHS England figures suggest there are around 2.5m people in the North East and Yorkshire who had a second dose at least three months ago and are now eligible for a booster, but had not had one by December 12.
That would mean that in the 17 days left in the year – including today, Christmas Day, and Boxing Day – local NHS services would need to deliver roughly 133,000 booster jabs per day to meet the target announced by the prime minister.
In the most recent four days of recorded booster vaccine numbers, an average of 61,523 third doses were administered per day across the North East and Yorkshire. However, it is unclear at this stage exactly how many people are currently eligible for a booster, as some will have recently caught Covid and therefore have to wait 28 days until their third jab.
Across the North East and North Cumbria there are five large vaccination centres, 68 primary care network locations, 193 community pharmacy locations – all of which must be booked to use.
While some new walk-in facilities may be offered here at a “very localised” level, North East and Cumbria NHS chiefs have urged people to book their booster appointment either online or once they are contacted directly by their GP, in order to ensure both staff and vaccine supplies can be targeted at the busiest locations.
Newcastle GP services said that it would take a “superhuman effort” to give 100,000 people in the city boosters in less than three weeks and that it was “working hard to set up the additional clinics needed to meet the demand”.
Professor Neil Watson, who is leading the Covid-19 Vaccination programme for the North East and North Cumbria said: “The ambitious plan to speed up the offer of the booster will depend on everyone working together to support the programme. In particular this means we are asking people to be patient and not to call their GPs about the booster – they won’t be able to answer your queries.”
Elizabeth Morgan, Northumberland’s director of public health and lead director for the Covid-19 vaccination programme, added: “We know that two doses don’t provide as much protection as we would like, but thankfully, a booster dramatically improves this.”