Covid: Half of those eligible on Isle of Man have had booster jab

Queues formed on Saturday outside the vaccination hub in Douglas for the walk-in clinic

More than half of those on the Isle of Man eligible to received a Covid-19 booster jab have now received it, the health minister has said.

Lawrie Hooper said the milestone was a "brilliant achievement" that would help meet the target of 90% take up by mid-January.

It comes after more than 900 people aged over 40 attended a walk-in clinic held in Douglas on Saturday.

The rollout has now been extended ahead of schedule to all adults over 18.

'Speed up the rollout'

More than 33,000 people have now received their booster from an eligible population of about 65,000 people who are double vaccinated.

The decision to open up to the remaining priority age groups came after the high turnout on Saturday at the first of six drop-in clinics being held before Christmas Day, Mr Hooper said.

Extra vaccinators and administrative staff have been recruited to help deliver the 3,000 extra jabs in that time, as well as the appointments already booked in.

Mr Hooper said: "Everything we are doing is to try and speed up the rollout.

"What we are trying to do is protect the capacity of the health service not just so it can deal with Covid, but also so it can deal with all the other things health services need to do."

There are currently 611 active cases on the island, with eight Covid patients in Nobles Hospital.