THE doctor running York’s Covid vaccination drive says there was an "inspirational" reaction to fresh pop-up clinics held at the weekend.

Professor Mike Holmes, writing in his latest column in The Press today, said it was decided to hold an extra pop-up clinic at Kimberlow Hill surgery near Hull Road on Saturday to see if it could encourage a few more young people from the area to have their vaccine.

He said the result was "fantastic," with many more arriving than expected and about 300 people vaccinated there in just three hours.

“We even had to extend the clinic by an extra hour and some people had to be directed up to our Askham Bar vaccination centre as we couldn’t quite squeeze them in,” he said.

“Our pop up clinic at Jorvik Gillygate surgery was also very busy for its eighth week running, with more than 100 people coming there for their vaccine on Saturday.”

He thanked teams who worked the weekend to cover the clinics and said almost 30 pop up clinics had now been operated, in addition to the main Askham Bar vaccination centre.

He said the first city centre pop-up clinic would be held on Saturday in Parliament Street, just outside the Boots opticians.

“So if you are planning on going into the city on Saturday, why not take the chance to get your vaccine? This will be a walk-in clinic opening at 9am til 1pm on Saturday.”

Prof Holmes said more than 71 per cent of 18-29 year olds had now been given their first dose in York, and almost 2,000 16 and 17 year olds had had their vaccine. “We really do have faith in our young people to do the right thing, and they have certainly shown that this week.”