Up to 200 people were turned away from a Dumbarton vaccine centre last night despite having appointments for a Covid booster.
Caroline Lamond told the Lennox Herald today (Thursday) that people were showing up to the Masonic hall for their scheduled jab only to find lengthy queues.
And when the 42-year-old from the town got to 10th in the queue, she says she was told the doors would be locked as staff had to go home.
Caroline, who has had her slot booked for several weeks, said: “My appointment was at 6.15pm.
“There was a steward at the end of the queue. When I turned up, I said to him ‘is this a drop-in clinic?’.
“He said ‘no, all of these people have appointments’.
“I asked him why the queue was so big. He said ‘if you want to stay, you can but I can’t guarantee you aren’t going to get turned away’.
“There were a lot of people saying ‘why would we get turned away? We have got appointments.’
“I decided to stay as did the people in front of me and behind me. I got to the front at about 7pm and was told the doors were locked because ‘the staff need to go home. They have been working all day’.
“Apparently there were only six members of staff on. It’s dire.”
There have been other reports on social media of people waiting for appointment slots as late as 7.30pm and also being turned away.
Caroline went on: “There were people with kids and there was a small baby in front of me. The mum was standing there the whole time and the baby was starting to get upset.
“The poor wee thing could have been at home.”
Now there are concerns those who had their appointments but were told they weren’t getting jabbed last night may struggle to have the booster in time for Christmas as the online portal recognises that a slot was booked.
Caroline added: “When you go in to try and rebook, the system thinks you have had it.
“I don’t know how long it’s going to be and I don’t know what’s going to happen if we show up at a drop-in clinic.
“Of course, the way that the rates are now and with Christmas coming up, it’s a bit scary.
“Over the holidays, the centres are going to be shut down so there’s not going to be the same opportunities to be vaccinated in the next few weeks.”
Dumbarton MSP Jackie Baillie brought the issue up at First Minister’s Questions today asking Nicola Sturgeon if extra clinics could be put on for people in the area.
Ms Sturgeon responded: “For anybody who has an appointment and is not able to have that appointment fulfilled, rebooking, they should phone the helpline because that is what is required.
“We are seeking to do everything to avoid these kind of situations happening. It is actually one of the reasons why we need the balance of facility. If we just have drop-in clinics then people go and queue and it’s hard to match supply and demand.
“I don’t want people to be queueing although I think if you turn up and there’s a queue wait there and get your vaccination because it is important but we certainly don’t want people to be turned away.
“We are working every day to resolve these issues and to make sure that this vaccination programme continues at pace. I’m not minimising the impact of people who have that experience but this programme is a massive logistical effort.”
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde have been contacted for a comment.
Meanwhile, health secretary Humza Yousaf this morning told BBC Scotland that the target for the daily number of boosters has been revised from 70,000 to 61,000 a day between now and the end of the year.
He advised it would be enough to reach 80 percent of those who are eligible before we go into the new year.
Mr Yousaf also said that particular work was ongoing in highly populated areas including NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, which West Dunbartonshire comes under, to figure out how capacity can be increased.
Despite issues at the Dumbarton facility, Scotland recorded a record number of boosters with 54,104 jabs given yesterday alone.
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