A pensioner left a long vaccination queue in Alexandria without getting their booster due to a lack of vaccinators, according to an MSP.
Jackie Baillie has demanded answers from those running the vaccination programme in West Dunbartonshire after saying at least one pensioner left the queue at the Alexandria leisure centre.
She says there were lengthy waits on both Friday and Saturday, despite residents being given allocated timeslots.
This also followed problems in Helensburgh on Wednesday and Thursday which saw elderly residents calling for their Covid booster and flu jags waiting two hours past their appointment times before receiving their vaccines.
The Dumbarton constituency MSP has been contacted by a number of constituents affected including the daughter of one woman from the Alexandria area who was so tired standing and unable to wait any longer she left the queue without getting her vaccination.
Ms Baillie said: “The vaccinators are working really hard but there were simply not enough of them to cope with the number of people invited to be vaccinated.
“Asking older people to stand for hours at a time, outdoors, is not practical.
“We have seen this all before.
“Why were lessons not learned when we saw pensioners waiting in the rain last year at this same venue for their Covid jags?
“I have written to NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde and Cabinet Secretary for Health Humza Yousaf to find out what has gone wrong and what steps are being taken to sort this problem out before more people are affected.
“It is incredibly worrying that because of this shambles, at least one woman has left without even getting her jag.
“The health authorities should be doing all they can to encourage people to attend for their boosters and that means ensuring that there are enough vaccinators.”
A spokeswoman for Argyll and Bute HSCP responded: “In relation to this particular clinic over 100 members of the public turned up significantly ahead of their scheduled appointment and in some cases, they had actually turned up a day early.
“This led to more people than had been planned being in attendance at the vaccination centre at the same time.
“We are really pleased to see that people are eager to get their winter vaccinations to help protect against Covid-19 and flu, however, we would ask the public if they could please come along at their scheduled time to avoid lengthy waiting times in future and to protect them from any adverse weather conditions.
A spokesman for NHSGGC said: “To help prevent waits and to allow our vaccination teams to process people in a timely manner, we are asking members of our local communities to arrive only a few minutes ahead of their allocated appointment time.
“If anyone is concerned about accessing a clinic, we would encourage them to call the national helpline on 0800 030 8013.”
