Colchester pensioners call booster vaccine hub 'scandalous'

Valerie Francis, 82, and husband Stewart, 84, of The Lane, in Mersea, headed to the JobServe Community Stadium, in Colchester, to have their coronavirus boosters and flu jabs.

The elderly residents had taken it upon themselves to book slots in advance.

Upon arriving, however, Valerie says the couple's pre-booked appointments were deemed “irrelevant” and they would have to join a snaking queue of more than 150 people. 

“We arrived at about 10.45am and were staggered to find the car park was very busy and there was an enormous queue of people,” added Valerie, whose slot was at 11am.

“They were waiting for their booster and had not booked.

“We were even more staggered when we were told that the fact we had appointments was irrelevant and we had to join the queue. 

“For us this was impossible. There was no way we could stand in a queue for that long and left.”

After deciding against waiting around in the cold, Valerie headed home and stopped at the Island Pharmacy to pick-up a prescription.

Once inside, she was informed booster and flu jabs were being administered on site, so Valerie grabbed the opportunity quickly receiving both vaccines.

She has now hit out at the way in which she was treated by workers at the JobServe Community Stadium in Colchester and blasted how the process was handled.

“Why did we choose this venue? We wasted about four hours of our time plus petrol,” said Valerie, who walks with a stick and is disabled.

“This was scandalous and surely bookings must be honoured. This should never have happened.”

Picture: Steve Brading (Image: Newsquest)

Bosses at the Essex Partnership University Trust, which is in charge of the vaccination hub, has now issued an apology.

A spokeswoman said: “We’re sorry for Ms Francis’s experience.

“Last week, demand for vaccinations was high with some of our sites delivering more than 1,000 vaccinations each day.

“Our staff are working tirelessly to deliver vaccines across all our sites and we have taken action to reduce wait times by reviewing the arrangements for waiting and prioritising pre-booked appointments.”

As of September 52,000 autumn boosters had also been administered across Suffolk and North East Essex by a variety of organisations and providers, including GP practices, pharmacies, EPUT and ESNEFT.