THE doctor leading York’s mass vaccination centre says all over 50s look set to be vaccinated by Easter.

Professor Mike Holmes says the milestone is "really achievable", provided the centre can keep going at the current rate and it continues to receive sufficient vaccine.

“In any event, we will certainly reach the Government’s target of vaccinating everyone over 50 years old by April 15,” he said in his weekly column for The Press.

Prof Holmes said the complex on the former Askham Bar park&ride site would start giving second doses of the vaccine in earnest this week, this having already started elsewhere in North Yorkshire, and the moment felt really significant.

“The work being done in all the vaccination services across north Yorkshire and the rest of the UK is phenomenal – in GP practices, hospitals and community pharmacies,” he said.

“It is through this combined effort that we will get this job done.”

He warned that as the volume of vaccinations increased, the number of cars arriving at the site would rise as well, and so he urged people to come if possible by bus, bike or on foot, or to get dropped off just outside the site.

Prof Holmes also spoke of the challenges posed by prioritising who can gets the vaccine and when, and revealed that staff at the site sometimes had to turn people away if they were not eligible or had not booked in.

“It has to be a fair process and we are working to the priority groups set out nationally by the JCVI (Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation).

“So please remember we are just doing our job – we will always strive to do this with compassion.”

He also thanked all the volunteers helping at the site, saying more than 300 people were now giving their time for free to help the effort.

“We’re conscious that as people go back to work and children return to school there will be more pressure on people’s time so we are continuing to grow our volunteer team,” he said.

“I can’t thank them enough – they are quite simply very special people.”

He also thanked local businesses for their support, saying the site had had deliveries of sandwiches, cakes, chocolates, fruit and drinks from local suppliers, along with a big response to an appeal for paper cups.

His comments came as the head of the Oxford University vaccine group sought yesterday to reassure the public over its Covid-19 jab after several more countries, including Germany and the Netherlands, temporarily suspended its use.

Professor Andrew Pollard said that while it was right that regulators investigated reports of blood clots in people who have had the vaccine, data from millions of people was “very reassuring” that there was no link.

The World Health Organisation (WHO), the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and the UK’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) have all said that there was no evidence of a link between the jab and an increased risk of blood clots.