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Vaccine clinic forced to shut after consignment of jabs is not delivered

The NHS said there are enough doses of the vaccine for all eligible people in London.

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A vaccine dose being prepared

A vaccine clinic in south London has been forced to close after an order of jabs was not delivered.

Dr Rosemary Leonard, a GP in Lambeth, said residents in the London borough felt saddened after they were unable to get their jabs following the closure of the clinic.

According to the NHS website, there are 19 walk-in and pop-up vaccination clinics in the area.

Dozens of surgeries across the borough also are offering vaccines to their patients.

It is not known which clinic has been forced to close or which vaccine brand was not delivered.

Dr Leonard told BBC Breakfast: “It was a busy Saturday morning vaccinating in our three practices together but unfortunately, we were limited on how many vaccines we could give.

“We’ve had a vaccine clinic cancelled today because in Lambeth here we didn’t get our deliveries of vaccines late on Friday afternoon, which is hugely disappointing and a lot of patients were really upset they had booked appointments and couldn’t get their vaccinations as planned.”

She added: “We are desperately hoping we get the delivery later today for tomorrow’s clinic because we are booking in far more patients than we were first time around. We’re really having a heavy drive.

Vaccine London
People waiting to receive Covid-19 vaccinations in London (Kirsty O’Connor/PA)

“When we found out we weren’t getting any, the first thing you do is ring around the other local vaccine centres and say, ‘have you got any spare?’ and everyone was in the same boat.”

The NHS said people should not be concerned as there are enough doses of the vaccine for eligible people in the capital.

Will Huxter, director of NHS London’s Covid vaccination programme, said: “There is enough supply of the vaccine to offer doses to those due them, and we are seeing record numbers of Covid vaccinations across the capital and our focus is on ensuring these vaccines get to people as quickly as possible so they can get the vital protection they need against the virus.

“Over 650,000 vaccine doses were delivered in London last week – a record for the NHS vaccination programme in London – and this week we will be continuing to offer vaccinations at hundreds of pharmacy and GP sites, hospitals and vaccination centres across the capital so please do book an appointment or go to a walk in site near you.”

A rate of about one million boosters a day is needed if every adult is to be offered a jab to protect them against the Omicron variant by the end of the year.

Latest figures from the UK Health Security Agency show that a further 12,133 confirmed cases of the variant have been reported across the UK, bringing the total confirmed cases of Omicron across the four nations to 37,101.

In total, a further 82,886 lab-confirmed Covid-19 cases were recorded in the UK as of 9am Sunday, the Government said.

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