Covid booster sessions cancelled in Hertfordshire and Essex

Long queues have formed at walk-in sessions since the announcement that the Covid booster vaccination programme was being accelerated

Some Covid vaccination walk-in clinics in Hertfordshire and Essex have been cancelled after "significant demand" caused disruption.

Three clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) said they decided to cancel a number of planned sessions due to "unacceptably long queues".

This also caused traffic disruption around some vaccination centre sites.

It said thousands of additional appointments were being added to the national booking service instead.

East and North Hertfordshire CCG, which covers an area between Hitchin, Cheshunt and Bishop's Stortford, Herts Valleys CCG, which covers St Albans, Hemel Hempstead and Watford, and West Essex CCG, which covers Harlow, Epping and Uttlesford, said the walk-in sessions were being converted to bookable appointments.

"Significant demand is leading to unacceptably long queues for the public and causing traffic disruption around our larger vaccination centre sites," a joint statement said.

The groups added that staff had been working "around the clock to increase the vaccination opportunities" since the prime minister's announcement on Sunday that the Covid booster vaccination programme was being accelerated.

But following long queues forming in the first two days, they would be "keeping walk-in arrangements under review and have temporarily reduced the number of walk-in clinics".

Dr Rachel Joyce advised those planning to attend walk-in clinics to "wrap up warmly and come prepared for a wait" or book an appointment

Some of these clinics would be running, but people should check their eligibility and availability of clinics before setting out.

A spokeswoman for the CCGs, Dr Rachel Joyce, said: "Walk-in sessions are aimed solely at very local residents.

"Staff will monitor queues and once the capacity of a vaccination session has been reached, queues will be closed to ensure that everybody already queuing can be vaccinated."

Three clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) said thousands of additional appointments were being added to the national booking service instead

The CCGs said more bookable vaccination slots were being added "giving people the security of a guaranteed appointment time" and more pharmacies were due to join the vaccination effort soon.

Dr Joyce added that staffing the clinics was also a "major challenge" and staff were being redeployed "urgently".

"Please be patient with staff and volunteers who are working hard to get as many people protected as possible," she said.

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