Lincolnshire people are being urged to come forwards as soon as possible – provided they are eligible – for their covid vaccination and not to wait to be called in.

This call comes amidst concern that some people, particularly those aged 75 and over, who are eligible now for their next vaccination are choosing to wait until they are called in by their local NHS.

“Anyone who is 75 and over can receive their spring booster as long as 91 days have passed since their previous covid vaccination,” explains Rebecca Neno, Director of Covid and Influenza Vaccination Programmes, NHS Lincolnshire CCG.

“We know that protection against covid from the vaccination wanes after a period of time and this is why the spring boosters are being offered to those most at risk and why we are urging them to come forwards as soon as they are eligible.

“We also know there are still significant numbers of people seriously ill with covid in hospitals around the country, the vast majority of who are not fully vaccinated.  The whole point of the spring booster vaccination is to top up your protection, since we know it deteriorates after a period of time.”

This rallying call comes after a good start initially to the spring booster campaign in the county, with 31,079 spring boosters given as of 18^th April (i.e. second booster vaccinations – fourth or spring boosters and fifth doses for immunosuppressed people).

“Part of the problem is I think a lot of people have returned to life as normal, as it was pre-covid.  I think the other thing is that too many people still think covid won’t affect them seriously.  I understand both points of view, but wouldn’t rely on either,” adds Rebecca.

“From a practical perspective I am concerned that some people who are eligible now, particularly those aged 75 and over, are not coming forwards until they are called in by the local NHS/their GP practice.  However, if you are eligible, you can come and see us now.”

In support of the ongoing effort to vaccinate people, the NHS in the county is ramping up its pop-up walk-in sessions once again, enabling people to get vaccinated without the need to make an appointment.

“We continue to do everything we can to make getting vaccinated as easy as possible, whether that’s by making an appointment at a time to suit you or coming to one of our pop-up sessions,” explains Rebecca.

“The pop-up sessions are a particularly easy way to get vaccinated and we advertise all of them on our  Grab a Jab page.  We are also continuing to offer bespoke walk-in sessions for people who are immunosuppressed, as well as children (out of school hours).

“We need to significantly bump up the numbers of people coming to see us to get vaccinated, simply because we know the protection we can get from being vaccinated will wane over time, so we all need to get a top-up when we can.  The need to be protected now is no different than it was a year ago.”

For more information visit our Grab a Jab page.