Covid vaccine offered to over 18s at Bedford drop-in centre

First doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine will be available at the Guru Nanak Temple in Queens Park, Bedford, on Saturday

A council in a town hit by the Delta variant of Covid-19 is looking for "lots of arms" for a drop-in vaccination session for all over 18s.

First doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine will be available in Bedford on Saturday, without a need to book.

The offer comes as the borough council confirmed surge testing in three areas of the town ends on Friday.

Councillor Louise Jackson said: "We've got lots of vaccine and we need lots of arms to put that vaccine into."

The vaccine is being offered to all over 18s who turn up to the Guru Nanak Temple in Queens Park between 13:00 and 19:00 BST on Saturday.

Bedford is one of eight areas identified by the government as a hotspot for the variant first identified in India.

The town has the 18th highest Covid-19 rate in England, with 157 cases per 100,000 people in the week to 6 June.

Bedford is one of eight areas identified by the government as a hotspot for the Delta variant

For the past three weeks, surge testing - where everyone living, working or studying in a specific area who does not already have symptoms is asked to take a Covid-19 polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test - has been carried out in the Cauldwell, Kingsbrook and Queens Park areas in an attempt to control the spread.

• Door-to-door tests to start in Covid variant area

• Confusion in Bedford over Covid guidance change

• What is the India Covid variant?

Due to high infection rates, the authority had already opened up booking for first Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines to over 18s.

Ms Jackson, portfolio holder for health and wellbeing, said: "It's really important. We've been an area with a high rate of infection and we still do have a high rate of infection.

"It's come down a little bit but it's certainly not where we want it to be, so we need to build some protection, some resilience in our community and this is the best way of doing that."

Ms Jackson added that getting vaccinated was "one of the most important things we can do to halt the spread of the virus, protect each other and get us all back to the things we've missed over the last year".

Find BBC News: East of England on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. If you have a story suggestion email [e-mail]