Covid: Manx residents urged not to miss booster jab appointments

Those aged 40 and over are eligible for the booster six months after their second jab

People on the Isle of Man are being urged to attend their Covid-19 booster jab appointments to prevent the vaccine being "wasted".

Health minister Lawrie Hooper said about 30% of more than 600 appointments scheduled on Monday had been missed.

He warned "complacency" over immunity could lead to an "escalation" of the government's plans to protect health services from an increase in infections.

There are currently 513 active cases.

The latest public health surveillance report said an increase in Covid-19 infections over the past week "indicates that we may be seeing a rise in the spread of infection" on the island.

More than 400 new cases have been recorded in the last seven days.

'Back of the queue'

Mr Hooper said missed appointments could be down to "a few factors", including people being away on holiday and the "inconvenience" of having to attend the vaccination locations.

He said: "I think there's also possibly a little bit of complacency… the message that really needs to go out to people is just how important it is to have their booster jab when they've been invited to it."

He warned that those who "chose not to turn up" risked being put to the "back of the queue".

"There are a lot of people out there that need these boosters and we're trying to get through people as quickly as we can," he said.

"So don't expect that you'll be able to rebook in very quickly afterwards."

Mr Hooper called on people to let the vaccination service team know in advance if they were unable to attend an allocated time slot.

More than 17,500 booster jabs have been administered since the start of the roll-out programme on 4 October.