Students offered Covid vaccine to 'maximise' Pfizer supply

The walk-in session on Wednesday sparked hectic scenes around the vaccination centre in Exeter Road, with a long queue snaking along the pavement.

By late morning capacity for the day had been reached and in the afternoon daily sessions planned up until Monday, May 24, were scrapped.

Dorset Healthcare Trust, which manages the vaccine rollout in the county, said the invitation to students at Bournemouth University, Arts University Bournemouth and AECC was using “spare capacity”.

In a statement to Daily Echo yesterday, a Dorset HealthCare spokesperson said: “The BIC has recently begun to offer the Pfizer vaccine as well as the Oxford Astra-Zeneca.

"Because the Pfizer vaccine is more susceptible to wastage due to its storage requirements, we considered ways we could minimise wastage by offering the vaccine to specific groups on a walk-in basis.

“We worked with colleagues in the Dorset-wide vaccination programme and at NHS England to explore options for maximising the use of the Pfizer vaccine supply and decided to offer walk-in availability for first dose vaccinations to identifiable groups, where possible focussing on those at higher risk of poor outcomes from Covid-19 or those who pose a higher transmission risk.

“As a result we offered the vaccination to all local university students, particularly those who are male, those from certain ethnic minority backgrounds, those with a body-mass index of 30 or more (obese or morbidly obese), and those experiencing socio-economic deprivation.”

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A walk-in system was offered to enable quick access to vaccinations, the trust said.

“It was wonderful to see that so many young people were keen to be vaccinated although the large numbers coming to the centre did mean that we couldn’t vaccinate everyone," the spokesperson said.

"The queue was managed on-site with excellent support from our security and volunteer teams and students were extremely co-operative throughout."

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They added that the queue was closed when staff knew they had enough people to use the available vaccine doses.

Anyone from the eligible cohorts who had a booked appointment was expedited to the front and our fantastic staff did a brilliant job of welcoming and vaccinating so many people, the trust said.

• IN PICTURES: Students queue to get Covid vaccine jabs at the BIC

They said: “As further cohorts of people open on the national booking system our capacity for ad hoc arrangements like this has reduced.

"However, we will continue to look at ways we can maximise the use of our vaccine supply to ensure it doesn’t go to waste and we can protect as many people as possible.

“We are delighted that our local university students are so keen to be vaccinated and hope that as the younger cohorts become eligible they will also take the opportunity to protect themselves and others.”