December 20, 2021 11.15 am This story is over 26 months old

Vaccination centres warning of two hour waits for COVID jabs, as over 6k cases confirmed last week

People urged to book ahead

There were more than 6,100 coronavirus cases last week in Lincolnshire, as county health bosses warn of two hour waits for jabs at the vaccination centres in Lincoln and Boston.

People are being urged to book in as a first call rather than relying on walk-ins due to a limited capacity to administer them — as a surge of jabs is expected in the run-up to Christmas.

It comes as a free shuttle bus service is being introduced in both Lincoln and Boston, to transport people up to the Lincolnshire Showground and the Princess Royal Sports Arena Mass Vaccination Centres for their COVID booster vaccinations.

The latest COVID stats for Greater Lincolnshire are:

  • 1,651 new cases of coronavirus with 1,265 in Lincolnshire, 184 in North East Lincolnshire and 202 in North Lincolnshire
  • Two further deaths including a Lincolnshire resident and a North East Lincolnshire resident were recorded in the government figures
  • Hospital death data is not updated over the weekend
  • National cases also increased massively over the weekend to 11,361,387, with deaths rising to 147,218

The latest figures show that there were 6,174 cases last week, compared to 5,732 last Friday – a rise of 7.7%. There have been 14 deaths, compared to 11 at this point last week.

There were 12 deaths reported in the region’s hospitals last week, compared to nine the previous seven days.

Director of Covid and Influenza Vaccination Programmes at NHS Lincolnshire CCG, Rebecca Neno told BBC Radio Lincolnshire on Monday: “We will take people for walk ins if we can, but that is likely to mean a wait and people just need to be prepared.

“Sometimes it’s 10 minutes but yesterday we did have some waits getting up to two hours so it really just depends.

“People are always given the choice so we will always tell you what the wait time is.

“Our message to people remains to try and book an appointment – an appointment will guarantee you a slot.

“We will always see those who booked appointments first but clearly if people are arriving for walk-ins, we really want to do our very best and vaccinate everybody.”

The shuttle-bus service is being introduced from Monday, December 20:

  • Lincoln – 20th to 31st December (excluding Bank Holidays), from Lincoln bus station, 8am-6pm. From 20th to 21st it will leave on the hour and every half an hour from the 22nd December, with pick up points along the way (Lincoln Hotel, BBC Radio Lincolnshire, Broadway, Thonock Close, Ruckland Avenue) and returning people from the Lincolnshire Showground.
  • Boston – 20th to 23rd and 29th to 30th December, leaving Boston bus station on the hour, every hour, from 9.30am, with pick up points at Skirbeck Road and Fenside along the way and returning people from the Princess Royal Sports Arena (last departure at 5pm).

The vaccination centre at the Lincolnshire Showground will close on New Year’s Eve at 1pm. The vaccination centre at PRSA, Boston, will close at 7.30pm on New Year’s Eve.

Nationally, the NHS has today opened the national booking service for 12-15-year olds to get their second COVID-19 jab.

Bosses are celebrating a bumper weekend of jabs, with more than 1.5 million boosters recorded as part of nearly 1.7 million doses delivered across England over Saturday and Sunday.

On Friday, the Meres vaccination centre in Grantham hit a key milestone of 250,000 COVID-19 jabs.

All eligible 12-15s will be able to book their all-important second jab online if they had their first dose more than twelve weeks ago.

The NHS began rolling out first doses to the 12-15 age group in schools at the end of September.

According to health, bosses, more than 1.3 million young people have taken up the offer with more than 5,000 schools visited.

More than 75,000 schoolchildren are currently eligible for a second dose.

For more information on where you can get your vaccination visit this website.


Coronavirus data for Greater Lincolnshire on Sunday, December 19

173,454 (up 1,651)

  • 116, 963 in Lincolnshire (up 1,265)
  • 27,487 in North Lincolnshire (up 202)
  • 29,004 in North East Lincolnshire (up 184)

2,542 deaths (up two)

  • 1,857 from Lincolnshire (up one)
  • 342 from North Lincolnshire (up one)
  • 343 from North East Lincolnshire (no change)

of which 1,526 hospital deaths (no change)

  • 940 at United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust (no chnage)
  • 45 at Lincolnshire Community Health Service hospitals (no change)
  • 1 at Lincolnshire Partnership Foundation Trust (no change)
  • 540 in Northern Lincolnshire (NLAG) (no change)
DATA SOURCE — FIGURES CORRECT AT THE TIME OF THE LATEST UPDATE. POSTCODE DATA INCLUDES DEATHS NOT IN HEALTHCARE FACILITIES OR IN HOSPITALS OUTSIDE AUTHORITY BOUNDARIES.