Covid-19: Concern over 'no-shows' for booster jabs in NI

Up to half of people booked for their Covid-19 booster jab fail to attend the appointments on some days, according to the Ulster Chemists' Association.

Pharmacist Terry Maguire, who represents the organisation, said non-attendance led to a waste of vaccines.

He has urged people to turn up for their appointments.

On Thursday Health Minister Robin Swann announced plans to speed up the booster programme, the pace of which has been criticised by some politicians.

Northern Ireland has the lowest uptake of the booster shot in the UK.

Booster doses are intended to top-up protection against Covid-19 and help limit the spread of the virus over winter.

People aged from 40 to 49 are now entitled to have a booster jab as long as six months have passed since they received their second dose.

• How can I get my Covid booster?
• Q&A: How do I get a Covid-19 passport in NI?

Less than half of those eligible have received their booster vaccine, according to the Department of Health.

Mr Maguire said members of the public needed to be proactive to get their jabs and should not wait to be contacted.

"Clearly we could do better and we have got off to a fairly slow start but I think we are getting there," he told BBC News NI.

"There is a mixed message that people are sitting back waiting for an invitation to come for a booster, and very often that is the case, but they should be going out and proactively trying to get it."

Mr Maguire said there had been a "huge increase in interest from younger people" in vaccines due to the potential for a Covid passport and said full information was available from the NI Direct's website.

The rollout of the booster programme has been criticised, with First Minister Paul Givan on Wednesday saying that hundreds of thousands of those eligible for booster doses in Northern Ireland had not been contacted.

Northern Ireland's chief medical officer Sir Michael McBride said a lot of the commentary about the booster programme had been "uninformed and unfair".

He told BBC News NI that 23% of the population eligible for booster doses had received their booster jab.

"Of the 560,000 people who are currently eligible we have vaccinated about half of them, we've the other half to do," he said.

He said GPs had so far administered 165,000 booster shots, more than 30,000 of which were provided in pharmacies.

Sir Michael said Northern Ireland's programme had concentrated first on those most vulnerable.