Portsmouth Covid vaccines: Young people queue up to get jabs at Lalys pharmacy in Guildhall Walk

Student Eilish Roy, 25, from Southsea attended Lalys Pharmacy in Guildhall Walk to get her first dose of the Pfizer vaccine.

She said: ‘I’ve just been patiently waiting a while but I'm looking forward to getting my first vaccine and to feel like I’m joining the rest of the country to be protected.’

Kim Harding, 27, from Stamshaw said: ‘To be fair I wanted to get it so I could travel. I actually tried to book the vaccine at midnight on Monday but the website hadn’t updated so I booked it the next day.’

Her friend and housemate Billy Lavender, 28, agreed. ‘The main reason I’m getting mine is to be able to go on holiday again,’ he said.

Hilsea resident Ben Wickens, 28, said: ‘I am excited to get back to some sort of normality. I booked mine as soon as I could on Tuesday. I am looking forward to being able to go on holiday and going to the pub without having to go through all the apps.’

Cassidy Noyes, 29, from Southampton came to Portsmouth for his vaccine as he works in the area. He said: ‘I booked mine on the first day I could. Just been waiting for it to come out. I just want to be able to get out and do things again. I was hoping to get to a music festival this summer.’

20-year-old Ellie Norris was offered a vaccine early through her work at the University of Portsmouth. ‘I wasn’t expecting to get one now,’ she said.

‘But as soon as I was offered one early I said yes. I’d rather get it out of the way and get back to a bit of normality.’

Sarah Davis, 26, a PhD student from Southsea added: ‘I wanted to get my vaccine as soon as possible just so I could start getting out and doing things and not having to worry as much. It’s nice to have that level of protection. I’m most looking forward to seeing friends and family members who are more vulnerable.’

Sports coach Tom Freeman-Eves travelled from Bognor Regis as Lalys was the closest appointment available. The 28-year-old said: ‘I have lost a lot of work because of Covid so I wanted to get a vaccine to help get back to work as soon as possible. We booked ours as soon as we could.’

His partner, Emily Hunt – a 28-year-old lecturer at Brunel University said: ‘It would be good to get back to normal. This was one of the closest appointments we could get, the others were in Midhurst, Dorking or the Isle of Wight.’

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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