Callington is pulling out all the stop to offer everyone in town their booster vaccination against covid by the New Year’s Day.

The town council is working with Callington Health Centre to open up the town hall for extra slots for appointments between Christmas and New Year.

Cllr Andrew Long, who is a town councillor as well as being Callington’s Cornwall councillor, said he would be at the town hall on Tuesday, December 28 to make sure it was open, along with other town councillors keen to do their bit.

Cllr Long said: ‘Callington Health Centre is working really hard with the town council on making sure we have the maximum number of people vaccinated by New Year. We have been working hard with the town council to make sure they can use the town hall.’

Cllr Long added: ‘The health centre has had lots of bookings for vaccines and we are looking at what facilities we have got between Christmas Day and New Year to come up with some dates so we can get the maximum amount of slots released.’

He added that town councillors wanted to do their bit to help. He and fellow town hall keyholder Cllr Mike Moore would be available on Tuesday, December 28 to open up the town hall for booster appointments.

‘It looks like we are assisting them by opening up the town hall during the Christmas and New Year period whenever they need to be open, so the health centre in Callington can give the maximum amount of jabs they can and we can get boosters into people’s arms as soon as possible,’ said Cllr Long. ‘I have just had an email from the health centre to say they are taking me up on my offer to open up the town hall.

He added: ‘It is a very worrying time. The vaccines make a massive difference though so we just need to encourage people to get a vaccine to protect themselves and their families.’

He added that there was some reassurance as ‘the information coming out of South Africa now’ suggested that while the Omicron variant was highly transmissable, it was less virulent than earlier versions of the virus.

The town hall in Callington has already been pressed into service as part of the vaccination programme for patients of Callington Health Centre and Gunnislake Health Centre. Before Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s announcement othat everyone would be offered a booster against covid, the booster was being rolled out and taken up by the over-50s age group as well a younger people with underlying health conditions. In common with other surgeries in the area, the two surgeries have had their heads down this week working out just how they can fit in appointments between Christmas and New Year, when NHS staff countrywide must be hoping for some downtime after working flat out on the massive vaccination programme against Covid-19.

NHS Kernow, responsible for Cornwall’s vaccination programme, is publishing details of walk-in clinics for first, second and booster doses of the jab on its website. These include a walk-in clinic tomorrow, Friday, December 17, at the Liskerrett Community Centre in Liskeard between 11am and 4pm. See kernowccg.nhs.uk for full details and upcoming dates.