PENSIONERS were turned away from a vaccine centre after it ran out of jabs, Basildon Council s leader has said. Gavin Callaghan has described the situation as madness and has questioned if the Government will hit its target of vaccinating elderly and vulnerable people by the middle of next month. Mr Callaghan tweeted that elderly residents in Basildon had queued for several hours in the cold on Friday to get their vaccine. However, they were turned away due to a shortage in jabs. Mr Callaghan tweeted: If Boris Johnson wants to achieve the vaccine rollout by mid-February we cannot repeat the scenes we’ve seen in Basildon today with 80+ year olds queueing for hours in the freezing cold only to be told the NHS has run out of vaccines so go home and come back next Friday.
EXTRA Covid-19 vaccination centres have opened across south Essex as the fight against Covid-19 continues. Basildon has seen an additional two centres open, while one has also been opened on Canvey, offering the Pfizer vaccine. The launch of the new sites comes as the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine is approved by the government which will be rolled out from Monday. The new centres are Holy Trinity Church Hall, on Wickhay, Basildon, the George Hurd Centre, on Audley Way, Basildon and The Paddocks, on Long Road, Canvey. GP’s are working alongside nurses, pharmacists and other NHS staff to vaccinate those aged 80 and over as well as care home workers and other health care workers.