Mobile booster bus to increase Isle of Wight jab capacity

Residents on the Isle of Wight have struggled to book booster jab appointments

A roving, mobile vaccine bus will increase Covid booster capacity on the Isle of Wight, according to the local NHS clinical commissioning group (CCG).

The announcement comes after messaging over booster vaccinations on the island was branded a "train crash".

Residents have struggled to book an appointment for their third jab, with some being directed to the mainland.

The bus will visit three towns - Freshwater, Ventnor and Sandown - between Thursday and Sunday.

Alison Smith, managing director of the NHS Hampshire, Southampton and Isle of Wight CCG, said it would have capacity to vaccinate between 250 and 500 people per site but 1,750 vaccines overall, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Speaking to the Isle of Wight Council's health and social care scrutiny committee, Ms Smith said: "I apologise for the confusion, it was not our intention and we will do all we can to unravel this and make sure everybody has the opportunity to get their booster. We need to do better."

A pop-up clinic will also open at the Isle of Wight College for those 16 and 17-year-olds who have not yet taken up the vaccine offer, the LDRS reported.

Clare Mosdell, the council's former health and social care lead, told the scrutiny committee people had lost faith with the vaccine rollout programme.

She described the most recent third dose rollout as a train crash, said the LDRS.

"We need some assurance … there has been complete confusion," Ms Mosdell continued.

"It is going to take a huge amount of communication for faith to be restored with people getting their vaccination."

Dr Matt Nisbet, the clinical lead for the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Covid vaccination programme, also apologised but said the booster rollout was "quite more complex".