YORK’S Covid vaccination centre is aiming to give jabs to another 10,000 people this week as it battles to boost residents’ protection and save Christmas, following the emergence of the Omicron variant.

Centre coordinator Prof Mike Holmes, writing in his weekly column in The Press, says that with Christmas just around the corner and the NHS already under great strain, the centre at Askham Bar has made thousands of additional appointments available this week to ensure people get their boosters as quickly as possible.

Staff also jabbed 350 international students who had not had a vaccination since arriving in York to study, as well as any students due their second dose, in a special clinic held during Storm Arwen at the University of York last weekend.

They had also now vaccinated 6,500 12-15 year olds at the site, and a further 2,500 such children in schools across the district.

"Our efforts to support School Immunisation teams with the roll out of the vaccination programme to 12 to 15-year-olds across North Yorkshire continues to progress at pace, although the rural locations of some of the schools our teams are visiting has proved to be a logistical challenge at times," he said.

"We’re also making more after-school appointments available at the York Vaccination Centre for young people in this age group who have not yet had an opportunity to ‘grab a jab’."

Prof Holmes said the emergence of the Omicron variant of Covid-19 had highlighted the need for people to take up the offer of a booster at the earliest opportunity.

"The more a virus spreads, the more chance it has to mutate," he said.

"There have already been thousands of small changes in Covid-19 but, thankfully, most have had little impact so far. However, every so often a virus changes in a way that helps it to survive.

"The reason scientists are concerned about this particular variant is due to mutations in the way it enters our body’s cells, which might make it possible for it to spread more quickly."

He stressed that anyone eligible for a booster did not need to wait to be invited but could simply book themselves in at the earliest opportunity via the NHS booking system (https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/coronavirus-vaccination/book-coronavirus-vaccination/).

Referring to the expansion of the booster programme to include everyone over the age of 18, he said NHS England would set out how this should be done over coming days.

Prof Holmes said teams had also delivered more than 9,000 flu vaccinations in recent weeks, and carried out more than 150 appointments with local people as part of an NHS Health Check Service to help spot the early signs of stroke, kidney disease, heart disease, type 2 diabetes and dementia.