Covid: Bournemouth student jabs halted amid high demand

A scheme to offer university students walk-in Covid vaccinations has been suspended on its second day after too many people turned up.

Bournemouth University said it was told "all students" could queue for jabs at Bournemouth International Centre for seven days, beginning on Tuesday.

On Wednesday, hundreds turned up with some queuing for up to eight hours, while others were turned away.

Dorset Healthcare NHS Trust said its capacity for "ad-hoc" jabs had reduced.

On Tuesday, the university informed all BU students over the age of 18 they could attend walk-in vaccinations from 18-24 May.

But by Wednesday afternoon a message on its Facebook page, external said: "Due to the high numbers, unfortunately no further student slots are available for the time being."

In its initial statement, Dorset Healthcare NHS Trust said it had "offered spare capacity at the centre to students in priority groups".

But in a revised statement on Thursday, a spokeswoman said: "We offered the vaccination to all local university students, particularly those who are male, those from certain ethnic minority backgrounds, those with a body-mass index of 30 or more, and those experiencing socio-economic deprivation.

"As further cohorts of people open on the national booking system, our capacity for ad-hoc arrangements like this has reduced."

The trust said the offer to students had been made to minimise waste of the Pfizer vaccine.

Media student Ollie Leitelmayer arrived at the centre at 08:00 BST and queued until 16:00 for his jab.

He said: "The volunteer staff there were absolutely brilliant, they were obviously as shocked as we were about how many people showed up, but it just shows how many young people really want this vaccine.

"The staff gave us water and ice lollies to keep us hydrated, and made sure we had got lunch. They cut off the queue at about 9am."

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