Jab van is cancelled in West Berkshire – too much demand to stay safe

The NHS jab van due to visit a number of sites in West Berkshire this week has been taken off the road.

Organisers say this weekend’s announcement around booster jabs has led to a sudden and extremely high level of demand in the area and clinicians based on the van have now been put on standby to ensure sufficient staffing levels at other vaccination sites in the area.

This means the van’s visits to the following places have been cancelled: Kintbury Coronation Hall, Thatcham Catholic Hall, Riverside Community Centre and Woolhampton Village Hall.

These sites were not designed to deal with high levels of demand and have not been risk assessed to ensure high numbers of people could be kept safe in the event of a sudden surge of demand as has been seen on other sites.

Local people can still access Covid vaccinations by booking on the National Booking System where they will be offered a range of vaccination sites. Alternatively they can wait to be contacted by their GP practice to arrange an appointment.

A spokesperson for Berkshire West Clinical Commissioning Group said: “We would like to apologise for the inconvenience to people who had planned to visit the van and appreciate people’s patience in this.

"By standing down the van this week we can support our other vaccination sites to run more efficiently and help staff and volunteers concentrate on getting people through the process more quickly.

“Please note the NHS booking service is facing extremely high demand at the moment.

"If you can’t book straight away, please try later or the following day.

"More appointment slots are being made available every day, so please don’t worry – you will be able to arrange your jab.”