Numerous people face a lottery postcode to obtain Covid jabs, despite repeated pleas for boosters prior to Christmas.
Health Secretary Sajid Javid has said it is ‘absolutely crucial’ for people to ‘top up’ their immunity before seeing loved ones over the festive season.
However, Sunday’s analysis of The Mail revealed that walk-in centers are in desperate need of access and people have to drive more than 50 miles to get booster shots.
Many are refusing to wait to get contacted by NHS because of Omicron concerns. However, they are having difficulty calling the 119 number or being told there aren’t any nearby appointments.
Kate Barber (36), from Littlehampton, West Sussex said that she requires a boost because of a condition in which her health puts her at risk for Covid.
For Omicron Covid-19 prevention, the government has urged people to obtain their booster shots as quickly as possible.
In response to the increasing demand for Covid-19 prevention, the NHS developed an emergency booster program.
She tried twice to book by phone, but says: ‘I was told there weren’t any appointments close to me. I gave up in the end, looked on the NHS website and found no options in Sussex at all.’ Lesley Quirk, from Chichester, also in West Sussex, said she was being forced to travel 20 miles for hers despite ‘living three minutes away from a booster centre’, which was fully booked.
Meanwhile, some residents in Eastbourne, East Sussex, have been told to make their way to Orpington, Kent – some 54 miles away.
And even Gardeners’ World presenter Monty Don, 66, who lives outside Leominster in Herefordshire, complained last week on Twitter: ‘The Government is urging us all to get boosters – and I would love to. But although I have been eligible for a month I have had no contact at all and there is no booster programme in Herefordshire.’
Ministers believe they’ll be able offer a jab to all under-18s by January 31st, despite this. Over a million booster appointments have been booked for England in the last week.
Pharmacies now form the mainstay of the programme, with 1,500 offering jabs, while last Wednesday Boris Johnson promised temporary vaccination sites would be ‘popping up like Christmas trees’.
Yesterday night’s total was less than 20 million boosters (19.8million). 372,557 were delivered on Friday. The NHS should still be delivering more than half a billion boosters each day in order to reach the January 31 deadline.
Health Secretary Sajid Javid said: ‘Christmas is around the corner and it’s crucial that everybody who is eligible gets their booster jab to top up their immunity before spending time with loved ones.
‘While our brilliant scientists learn more about the new Omicron variant, we need to do everything we can to strengthen our defences and vaccines are the best way to do that.
‘We all have a role to play – so roll up your sleeves and get protected as soon as you can.’
Responding to Omicron, the Government said it would extend the booster offer to all adults and that the interval between the first and third jabs was to be reduced from six months to 3.
An NHS spokesman said: ‘There are almost 3,000 NHS vaccination sites across England, more than at any point in the rollout, meaning about 99 per cent of people live within ten miles of a vaccination site, while extra hospital sites will come online as we enter this next phase of the programme.’