A PHARMACY in Herefordshire appears the only site in the county to be offering walk-in booster jabs.
While Covid vaccination clinics are held across the county, the NHS website says the nearest site for walk-ins is Worcester Racecourse.
Huge queues formed in the city on Monday, less than 24 hours after Prime Minister Boris Johnson revealed he wanted everyone over 18 to have a booster before the end of the year.
But despite the NHS website saying there is no walk-in availability in Herefordshire, Bromyard Pharmacy, in High Street, says it is holding walk-in clinics.
Patients can book on the NHS website or by calling 119 for the sessions at Bromyard Public Hall, in Cruxwell Street, or can just walk in.
People were seen queueing outside the hall on Monday, the day after Boris Johnson said the rollout would be accelerated due to concerns over the Omicron variant.
In a pre-recorded address to the nation on Sunday evening, said Britain “must urgently reinforce our wall of vaccine protection” as he set a new deadline of jabbing everyone over 18 by the new year.
The announcement comes as the UK Covid alert level was raised to Level 4, up from Level 3, following a rapid increase in the number of Omicron cases being recorded.
In response, booster vaccines will now be offered to everyone over the age of 18 in England from this week, with the target of giving all those eligible a jab by the end of December.
The pharmacy said over-18s will be able to walk in on December 14, 18, 19, 21, 23, 27, 28 and 30 between 9.30am and 12.45pm and again from 2pm until 5pm.
Speaking in the House of Commons on Monday, Health Secretary Sajid Javid said: “These are steps that no Health Secretary would wish to take unless they were absolutely necessary, but I am convinced that if we don’t prioritise the booster now the health consequences will be far more grave in the months that lie ahead.”
He added: “Because of the threat of Omicron we are moving to Plan B in England, subject to the will of this House.”
He went on: “Even with Plan B, we still have far fewer restrictions in place than Europe. I can also confirm that from tomorrow fully vaccinated contacts of a Covid-19 case will now be able to take a daily lateral flow test instead of self-isolating.”
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