South Cumbria and Lancashire Covid jabs at-home service to end

The programme which offered the jab to people in their own homes will stop taking bookings in December

A service that saw thousands of people vaccinated against Covid in their homes will come to an end this month.

The NHS Vaccine at Home initiative has been running across Lancashire and South Cumbria since January.

The regional service, originally set up to help people who were shielding or unable to leave home, will stop taking bookings from 9 December.

It is being withdrawn because shielding is no longer necessary and demand for the service has declined.

Lancashire and South Cumbria Integrate Care Board said more than 4,000 people had been vaccinated in this way in the past 11 months.

Thousands of people have received the Covid-19 jab at home since the programme started at the beginning of the year

More than 100 NHS workers making up 40 vaccination teams delivered the service.

Jane Scattergood, from the Covid-19 vaccination programme, said: "This service has been fantastic and has helped us reach more people who have been unable to come forward for a vaccine, because they didn't want to leave their home.

"Now that shielding is no longer required, demand for the service has decreased, so it will soon come to an end."

People can continue to be vaccinated outside their homes, by booking an appointment.

Currently anyone over 50 can get another booster jab this autumn as well as:

• Anyone aged five to 49 with health conditions that put them at higher risk - including pregnant women.

• Care-home staff and frontline health and social care workers.

• Carers aged 16 to 49.

• Household contacts of people with weakened immune systems.