Since the NHS announced that every adult would be offered a booster vaccination by the end of 2021, the NHS in the North West has quickly ramped up further capacity for the vaccination programme.

In the first two days since the Prime Minister’s national address, more than 125,000 people have received a dose of the Covid-19 vaccination in the region. This includes 57,000 jabs given on Monday 13 December, one of the busiest-ever Mondays, demonstrating how far the programme has come since the same date last year – just six days into the vaccine programme – when 507 doses were given.

Around 228,000 booster appointments have been booked on the National Booking Service (NBS) this week in the North West alone, with work underway to step up capacity to meet the increased demand, including expanding existing sites, creating new sites and extending opening times.

In the past two days, an additional 67,000 appointments have been made available across the region, with a total of 340,000 slots on the NBS, compared to 200,000 on 1 December.

Expansion plans include the creation of eight additional Hospital Hubs +, offering vaccines to both staff and patients, which are helping to increase overall capacity in hospital vaccine hubs from 17,000 this time last week to almost 29,000.

Four of these hubs are already in operation, including Churton House at  Countess of Chester Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, which can offer up to 600 appointments a day,  a reinstated Hospital Hub+ at Liverpool Heart and Chest NHS Foundation Trust, which can vaccinate 300 people a day and a new articulated lorry on the site of Royal Blackburn Hospital, which will open on Thursday 16 December.

Today, the pop-up vaccination site at Chester Cathedral, in the heart of the city came online and will be open every day until Tuesday 21 December. This is in addition to 11 new pop-up sites across the region including at Alamein Barracks in Huyton, Liverpool from 15 to 17 December and at Little Hutte Neighbourhood Centre in Halewood, Merseyside, this weekend.

Large vaccination centres in Lancashire and South Cumbria have extended their opening hours to 7am to 9pm and some GP-led services are also increasing opening hours, including Acorn Medical Centre in Accrington, which will be open 7 days, 8.30am to 9pm, up to and including Christmas Eve.

Dr Linda Charles-Ozuzu, Regional Director of Commissioning for NHS England and NHS Improvement and Senior Responsible Officer for the Vaccination Programme in the North West, said: “ I am so impressed by our colleagues and volunteers across the NHS and partners in the North West, who have really stepped up to the challenge of Omicron and are rapidly scaling up the vaccination programme. Thousands more people are safer because of them.

“Getting the booster into the arms of as many people as possible is our best protection against the Omicron variant of Covid-19, which is fast becoming the dominant strain of the virus in the North West.

“If you’re aged 18 and over and it’s been three months since your second dose, please book an appointment or find a walk-in site and get your vaccine, to protect yourself and your loved ones.”

Every eligible adult can book their booster jab from today as the NHS covid-19 vaccination programme seeks to protect the nation from the new Omicron strain of the virus.

People aged 18 to 29 can now use the national booking service to make an appointment to get their jab at one of thousands of centres across the country.

Every adult is eligible for a jab three months after their second following updated guidance from the JCVI on 29 November.

NHS staff are prioritising booked jabs so the best way to ensure you get your booster is to make an appointment.

ENDS

How to book your booster:

Online: www.nhs.uk/book-a-coronavirus-vaccination/do-you-have-an-nhs-number

Phone: 119

Find a walk-in site: www.england.nhs.uk/north-west/grab-a-jab