Vaccination rollout delayed in Bedford as some patients have appointments cancelled

The much-anticipated Covid vaccinations were due to start today - but have been pushed back to Wednesday.

No explanation has been given despite Bedford Today putting the question to the Clinical Commissioning Group, with some residents have taken to Facebook after being told their appointments had been cancelled.

From Wednesday, GP practices will give patients the Pfizer vaccine and from Monday, January 11, the AstraZeneca vaccine will also be rolled out.

One resident said their friend was due to receive a vaccination tomorrow (Tuesday) but received a letter cancelling it, with no future appointment offered.

Another said: "My mother-in-law is the same, had her appointment this week on the 6th, and it has been cancelled with no explanation."

Earlier, Bedford Today revealed the town had recorded more than 220 cases in 24 hoursA spokesperson for Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) said: “The NHS is administering the coronavirus vaccine as we look to rapidly scale up the biggest immunisation programme in our history.

"As part of our phased vaccine programme we can confirm that all of the GP practices working within the four Primary Care Networks (PCN) in Bedford borough will receive the Pfizer vaccine on (Wednesday) January 6, 2021 and will commence vaccinating their registered patients over the age of 80 from that evening.

"This means that from that date all GP practices within the Bedford borough will be able to vaccinate their patients.

“In addition as part of the programme we can confirm that all of the Primary Care Networks across Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes will receive the AstraZeneca vaccine from 11 January, 2021 and will commence vaccinating their registered patients over the age of 80 during that week.”

The programme will run out of two centres for all Bedford patients:

*Kings House Conference Centre on Ampthill Road

*Guru Nanak Gurdwara Temple on Ford End Road, Queens Park