More pop-up vaccine clinics planned for West Berkshire
It comes amid concerns people are having to travel further afield for the third jab
People not wanting to travel is being blamed for an overloaded booster vaccine service in West Berkshire.
Vaccine centre organisers are being accused of not providing enough local options for Newbury, with many people saying they have been forced to travel to Reading and Oxford instead.
More pop-up clinics at community pharmacists are being planned.
“More is needed for the Newbury area. It was very well organised at the racecourse by GPs and a lot of people got the first and second jabs easily,” said Newbury resident Catherine Westlake.
“My husband and I had texts a while back to book booster jabs, but the racecourse vaccination centre that was run by GPs in now closed. “
She said she was offered Reading and Oxford walk-ins but could not commit to the times or get to the locations.
“My 18-year-old daughter in sixth form needs a second jab but the walk-in at Boots in Newbury is now closed, and we both tried to get in to the one day walk-in arranged at the Riverside Community Centre last Friday but it was shut at 3.30 as vaccines had run out.
“Reading and Oxford are on offer but these are not easy to get to and I don’t think lots of people should be encouraged to go to one place. There needs to be more local options.”
Berkshire West Clinical Commissioning Group is responsible for organising the jab centres and says it will publish a list of pop up centres in the Hungerford area this week.
“In the Berkshire West area we have a number of Primary Care Networks and community pharmacies offering the Covid booster vaccine in addition to the mass vaccination centre at Broad Street Mall in Reading,” said a spokesperson.
“Whilst across Berkshire West we currently have a supply which follows the numbers of people eligible, we are finding that people are less willing to travel for their vaccine than they were in the spring and this is leading to pressure on those community pharmacies, especially in West Berkshire.
“We are working with partners to address this by promoting use of the Broad Street Mall mass vaccination centre, supporting community pharmacies to increase their capacity and planning temporary ‘pop-up’ clinics to bring the vaccine closer to people.”