People in their 30s have been left confused about where to get a covid vaccination in the Harrogate district, with reports of long queues at the Knaresborough site.
This week the NHS announced the vaccination programme was being rolled out to 30 and 31-year-olds, who were able to book a jab through the national appointment service from Wednesday May 26.
One reader described the scene at the Knaresborough site this morning as “absolute chaos” with a long queue of people down the road, waiting to get in.
She said she had an appointment but was told she would need to wait for about an hour and a half, or could come back later when another pharmacist would be available.
Steve Culleton, an estate marshal at the Knaresborough site, apologised for the delay and said once people were checked into the venue, the aim was to get them jabbed and through to the observation area in three minutes.
Longer waits outside were due to a staff shortage, incidents on site that took staff away from the flow of vaccinations, and a higher than usual number of people turning up with incorrect appointment times, he said, noting that roadworks in the town had not helped.
Mr Culleton said that the pharmacists and other site staff were not involved with bookings, which were all made through the NHS 119 and National Booking Service.
He said:
“I’ve seen 1,100 people today. The overwhelming sentiment from all of them is ‘thank you very much, we appreciate it’.
“It’s a mixture of people turning up outside their appointment times, [booking] glitches and the lack of a full complement of staff.
“We are genuinely sorry that people had to wait, because that is not what we want. We just want people to come in, be jabbed, be observed and go.
“We want people to have a positive experience and go home happy. We know that there will be a few who are unhappy and for that I wholeheartedly apologise. It’s not what they expected, it’s not what we expected but it’s the way today turned out.”
Some people in their early 30s said they found that sites in Harrogate and Knaresborough were fully booked for several days, forcing them to book in Leeds, Pateley Bridge or Bradford.
After making alternative plans, two readers told the Stray Ferret that they received text invites from their GP surgery to make appointments directly due to “extra” supplies of the Pfizer vaccine.
A spokesman for NHS North Yorkshire Clinical Commissioning Group said there were two ways to get an appointment, depending on whether vaccination sites were administered by GPs or the NHS National Booking Service.
He said:
“The Harrogate and Ripon vaccination sites are administered by GP practices – and sit outside of the National Booking Service processes.
“Practices are contacting eligible patients, directly, though quite a lot of activity at the moment is fulfilling second-dose obligations.”
He explained the Knaresborough and Pateley Bridge sites were part of the NHS National Booking Service infrastructure and not linked to the CCG or general practices.
NHS England North East and Yorkshire said:
“On occasion, appointment slots can be booked up quickly and thus won’t appear in the list of options online. More appointments are added regularly, so people are advised to try again later if they can’t or would rather not travel to another venue.”
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More than 105,000 first doses of a covid vaccine have now been given in the Harrogate district, according to Public Health England.
A total of 105,579 first and 69,241 second vaccines have been administered in the district.
It means the take-up rate in the district stands at 74.3% for a first dose and 48.7% for a second dose.
