West Worcestershire MP Harriett Baldwin has called on the Government to improve rural vaccination coverage as more people are called in to get their booster jabs.

Harriett quizzed Health Secretary Sajid Javid in the House of Commons about plans to get more booster vaccination centres in rural areas such as Tenbury Wells, where she has had a series of complaints from residents who struggle to get to the main booster vaccination hubs.

And the Minister confirmed that more use would be made of community pharmacies and that his Department was seeking to recruit 10,000 more people able to give jabs to extend the reach of the booster roll-out programme.

Harriett said:

“Over the last year, we’ve seen amazing work getting jabs into arms to protect our way of life, and help us to get back to doing more of the things we love.

“Twenty million booster jabs have been delivered already nationwide but I shared some feedback that people in rural areas like Tenbury Wells were being asked to make very long journeys to get their booster shots and I know that the local team worked with the GP practices to help some people out.

“But the problem remains particularly for the housebound so I was keen to raise my concerns with the Minister. We’ve got to get booster jabs rolled out quickly and that means creating many more booster vaccination centres improving access for my constituents.

“I am relieved that the Government continues to put its faith in the booster vaccination programme rather than re-introducing restrictions and I encourage as many as people as possible to come forward to get their Covid jabs and flu jabs when invited.”