Haverhill: Two-month wait for housebound man to get booster

David Oglesby said he is worried about his immunity to Covid-19 waning by hvaing to wait for his booster jab

A blind, housebound man with a chronic lung condition is to get his booster two months after becoming eligible.

David Oglesby, from Haverhill, Suffolk, said he felt he had "been treated disgustingly".

"I know if I could get this virus I'm dead, no doubt about it, people with asbestosis don't survive this kind of virus," the 83-year-old said.

West Suffolk Clinical Commissioning Group said it was working through housebound patients.

Mr Oglesby was due to receive his Covid-19 booster vaccine in October and said he approached his local GP practice, but they told him they were no longer doing third jabs.

He said: "All a person wants is a straight answer.

"Who can I get in touch with to get the booster vaccine? Nobody can tell me.

"My son has had his booster, the lady who does my cleaning she's had the booster this week."

He has now been called by his local NHS vaccination service to say they will be visiting his home to give him his booster.

A spokesman for the West Suffolk Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), which covers Haverhill, said: "Our local GP Federation is working through the list of housebound groups, contacting people.

"If you haven't heard yet, please be patient."

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Dr Lindsey Crockett from the Peninsula Practice in Suffolk, part of Ipswich and East Suffolk CCG, said: "There are a lot of extremely vulnerable [patients] as long as people are on the list and GP are aware then they will be got to.

"It is all cylinder firing in these next weeks to make sure everybody, especially those vulnerable, are visited and vaccinated."

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said it was "absolutely vital" that everyone gets a booster jab and the government was "throwing everything" at the booster programme.

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