Over 130 students and staff took the opportunity to ‘grab a jab’ at recent pop-up COVID-19 vaccination clinics at Hugh Baird College.

The vaccination team, led by Seaforth and Litherland Primary Care Network (PCN) with the support of NHS South Sefton Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), set up a clinic inside the Balliol Road campus in Bootle, before later arriving on the COVID-19 vaccination bus at the college’s south Sefton campus in Litherland.

The sessions were aimed at encouraging teenagers to get their vaccine as early as possible and were the latest in a series of pop-up clinics across Sefton, including those at the Port of Liverpool, the Waterloo Festival, Seaforth Village Surgery and Asda in Bootle.

Dr Ken Lamden, COVID-19 vaccine programme coordinator, was vaccinating patients on site.

He said: “Of the total 133 patients vaccinated at Hugh Baird college, 85% were under 20 years old. It was really positive to see that teenagers in Sefton are so enthusiastically picking up the baton as the latest group of people eligible to get their vaccine.

“With students, we typically see more women than men coming forward for their vaccines, so it was really positive to see so many young men at the college stepping up and getting their jabs.

“It’s great to see that teenagers across our communities are taking responsibility for protecting not just themselves but their families and classmates alike.”

James Bradbury, 16, a student at Hugh Baird College, got his COVID-19 vaccination at the pop-up clinic at the Balliol Road campus.

He said: “I came to get my COVID jab because it’s better to be safe than sorry. My mum has asthma so she’s vulnerable. If I were to catch COVID-19 then she would catch it and she would be in real danger.

“I was just told about the pop-up in my class, so I thought I’d come and get it out of the way, get it done.

“You’d usually have to get a vaccination appointment sorted out and that would discourage some people because that’s more effort. But the pop-ups are no effort really, just come to the building and get it done.”

Teenagers aged 16 and over are now able to get their COVID-19 vaccines at sites across Sefton.

To find a walk-in vaccination site or to book a COVID-19 vaccination appointment when you are eligible, please visit the NHS website: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/coronavirus-vaccination/

For more information on the COVID-19 vaccination programme in Sefton, visit the CCG websites: www.southseftonccg.nhs.uk.