A walk-in Covid jab clinic vaccinated more than 300 over-18s in its first hour of opening – and others have been urged to head there.

Augustine Hall at Christ Church University in Canterbury is hosting a mass clinic today.

No appointments are required and anyone from anywhere in Kent aged over 18 can attend.

The session is run by Kent Community Health NHS Foundation Trust (KCHT) and is open to anyone for first doses of the Pfizer jab – or those who need a second dose of Pfizer whose first dose was at least eight weeks ago. It is not open to those who have had AstraZeneca.

Today's clinic at the university, off the city's ring-road, opened at 8.30am although queues formed from about 7.30pm. It is due to remain open until at least 6pm.

Richard Rodgers, who has been volunteering at the KCHT vaccine sessions since January, said: "Anyone of any age, please come along.

"We had about 320 in the first hour. It was really busy – people were queuing from 7.30am, all youngsters aged 18 to 25. Many were with their parents who had been double jabbed. They were really pleased to be there."

According to Mr Rodgers, who is station officer at Medway Coastguard Station, more than 500 vaccinations had been administered by midday, but many more were still available.

"We really want to push this," he added. "We want to get as many through as possible. We've been walking around town trying to drum up business.

"People can literally just walk in. Fifteen minutes later, that's it. It's such a smooth service."

Those who receive a vaccination at the clinic are advised to visit the online national booking service a few days after their first jab to book their second dose.

Health bosses said they were keen to vaccinate as many people as possible, as quickly as possible.

Paula Wilkins, chief nurse at NHS Kent and Medway Clinical Commissioning Group, said: “Canterbury has seen a rise in the number of Delta variant cases recently so we are concentrating our efforts in the town centre this weekend.

"We very much hope that the clinic will be a success and we will then be able to roll out similar models in other areas across Kent and Medway.”

Nationally, more than 700,000 Covid-19 jabs were booked on Friday – the day the NHS vaccination programme was opened up to people aged 18 to 20.

People in England made 721,469 appointments through the national booking service, more than 30,000 an hour or more than eight every second.

Meanwhile, a senior director at Public Health England (PHE) says she hopes the delay to the end of lockdown will allow time for everyone over the age of 40 to get double vaccinated.

Dr Susan Hopkins, strategic director for Covid-19 at PHE, said getting as many people as possible jabbed by July 19 should mean the latest wave in Covid-19 cases caused by the Delta variant will not be as deadly as previous waves.

In Kent and Medway, almost 1,090,000 first doses and more than 792,000 second doses have been delivered since the programme began six months ago.

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