Covid vaccine drop-in at Stamford Arts Centre runs out of jabs
Pensioners were turned away from a vaccination clinic which ran out of jabs after just two hours.
Covid booster jabs were available for over 75s at Stamford Arts Centre on Wednesday (May 10).
The drop-in session was due to finish at 5pm, but people queuing along St Mary’s Street were being turned away by 11am because not enough doses were available at the site .
A second session is due to take place at the arts centre tomorrow (Friday, May 12). Organisers say it will open at 10am, despite a poster at the arts centre advertising a 9.30am start.
Many of those who attended on Wednesday had paid for a taxi or struggled to make the journey into town.
Gill Horder, from Churchill Road, Stamford, said: “It’s very important for me to get the booster jab because it gives me confidence to go out.
“If they’ve run out after two hours, there are going to be hundreds of people who missed out and now we’ve got to go through it all again.”
A spokesperson for the Lincolnshire Integrated Care Board explained that the team in Stamford had been ‘exceptionally busy’ with patients and it had shown ‘the demand is there’.
He said: “We do appreciate the effort people make to get to the pop-up vaccination sessions and understand it is more difficult for some than others to travel.
“All of the pop-ups are run on a ‘first come, first served’ basis and this has been the case for the last couple of years.
“Our vaccination team took 140 vaccines with them for Wednesday’s pop-up at Stamford Arts Centre. It is difficult to second guess how many people will arrive at the pop-ups and the team have to estimate likely demand and balance this with not wasting vaccine if people don’t attend.”
The ICB could not confirm how many vaccinations will be available at Friday’s session, but said they will again be issued on a first come, first served basis.
The nearest venues currently offering bookable appointments are Rutland Late Night Pharmacy in Oakham and Mi Pharmacy in Werrington. They can be booked via the NHS website or by calling 119.
