Existing Covid vaccination appointments in Shropshire 'will be honoured' but under-50s face wait for jab

People in their 40s are likely to have to wait until May to get their Covid-19 vaccine after problems with a shipment of the AstraZeneca jab from India impacted supply.

An NHS letter to health leaders in England warned of a “significant reduction in weekly supply” of the vaccine from March 29, and said people “aged 49 years or younger should not be offered vaccination” unless they are in a higher priority group, such as being clinically vulnerable.

The shortfall is expected to last four weeks.

But bosses running the vaccination programme in Shropshire say over-50s and those clinically vulnerable who have already made first appointments, or are expecting to receive their second dose next month, will still be able to attend and get their jab.

People in the top nine priority groups who haven’t yet had their first dose are being encouraged to come forward and book to attend an appointment within the next 10 days.

Angie Wallace, programme director for the Covid vaccination service for Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin, said: “Over the coming weeks, we will continue to vaccinate those aged 50 and over and will reach out to all those in our most vulnerable groups who haven’t yet come forward in priority groups one to nine (people who are clinically extremely vulnerable, clinically vulnerable, have a learning disability, carers for someone at high risk from coronavirus and frontline health and social care workers).

"We are still on track to have offered a first dose vaccine to priority groups one to nine by mid-April and all second dose vaccination appointments will go ahead as planned.”

Progress

Last week, Sam Tilley, planning director for Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin Clinical Commissioning Groups, said the ambition was to vaccinate all over-50s in the county by the end of the month.

People aged 50 to 54 started to receive their invitations this week.

It comes as latest figures show more than 62 per cent of those aged 55-59 in the county, and the majority of over-60s, have now had their first vaccine doses.

Across England, a total of 21,771,652 doses had been given by the end of last week – with 224,767 of those in Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin.

The Department of Health says the Government is still on track to offer a first dose to all adults by the end of July.

Explaining the reasons for the reduced number of vaccines in April, Health Secretary Matt Hancock told the House of Commons yesterday: "In the last week, we've had a batch of 1.7 million doses delayed because of the need to retest its stability.

"Events like this are to be expected in a manufacturing endeavour of this complexity and this shows the rigour of our safety checks.

"And we have a delay in a scheduled arrival from the Serum Institute of India."

It is understood the delayed supply from the Serum Institute totals five million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine.