Covid: Telford MP claims Shropshire CCG 'sitting on hands' over vaccines

Telford International Centre opened as a mass vaccination site in January

Local health bosses cannot keep "sitting on their hands" when it comes to vaccinating more people in Shropshire, a Conservative MP has said.

Telford International Centre has the daily capacity to administer 1,500 jabs, but has been doing a few hundred.

Shropshire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) said it could only vaccinate over 65s as it needed permission from NHS England to move on to other groups.

Telford MP Lucy Allan said other areas had now moved on to the over 50s group.

She said MPs "meet weekly with the CCG" to closely monitor progress of vaccine rollout and she had "urged" health bosses to begin vaccinating those aged 60 and over "as they have now nearly finished the over 65s".

She added that the CCG had admitted "they have no-one to vaccinate, but are not willing to move to [the] next groups 'without permission'".

"This is not the case elsewhere."

Lucy Allan said other areas were vaccinating over 50s

Concerns have been raised about the number of people being vaccinated in mass vaccination centres and Shropshire's five Conservative MPs have asked Minister Nadhim Zahawi to give "permission" to move on to other groups, but Ms Allan added that she could not see why "they don't just get on with it like other CCGs".

Telford and Wrekin Council's Labour leader Shaun Davies has previously questioned why 1,400 vaccination slots at the hub were left empty.

A CCG spokesman said it was "trying to balance supply of vaccine with making the most of capacity" and added that the group was "down on supply for the next couple of weeks".

"We are expecting further cohorts to be opened up... in [the] next few days, and we know that letters have now gone out to unpaid carers," he said, adding that bookings were expected to increase at vaccination centres by the middle of the week.