Coronavirus in Portsmouth: Doctor urges people 'not to call' GP surgeries asking about booster jabs

Prime minister Boris Johnson last night announced all adults would be offered a booster jab by the end of the year.

That has left the NHS in Portsmouth working out how capacity can be increased amid concerns of hitting routine care.

It’s understood meetings are taking place today in GP surgeries and the city’s five Primary Care Networks.

It comes as the clinical lead for the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Covid-19 vaccination programme has urged people not to call their GP asking about the booster jab.

Dr Matthew Nisbet, who said the expansion was ‘really great news’, said: ‘I can absolutely assure people that in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight we've got enough supplies of vaccine to give boosters to all of those over 18-year-olds.

‘It is of course going to take us a little bit of time to work our way through the cohorts as we've done in the past and to expand the programme in the way that the prime minister has asked us to, so thank you for bearing with us - we will get round to you.

‘It would be really helpful if people could not call their GP surgeries about this just yet because it is going to take us a bit of time to expand our capacity.

‘We absolutely will get round to you.’

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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