More than 1,000 young people queue outside Moss Side walk-in clinic for first jab but there are ‘more people than number of vaccines’
- Eager students and young people from Moss Side and Hulme queued from 6am
- Council organiser says there are more Pfizer vaccines being dropped off than can keep up with demand
- The message went out as there were 300 surplus doses of the vaccine up for grabs
Patients over 18 at The Arch Medical Practice in Hulme were invited with their housemates to receive their first Pfizer dose.
In a text sent out yesterday morning, project manager at Manchester City Council, Rob Brown, said: “I’ve never seen so many people in this park on Great Western Street by Powerhouse Youth Group.
The message got out and around on social media and I can honestly say we’ve got 1,000 people here, maybe more.”
The practice’s patients are mostly students, with the invite to take advantage of the excess vaccines covering postcodes in Moss Side and Hulme area.
To manage expectations, people at the back of the queue were warned of a four-hour wait by council officials.
Our reporter @g_randall_ spoke to Manchester City Council’s Rob Brown who was organising the Moss Side walk-in clinic offering the Pfizer vaccine. 1000 eager students and young people arrived to queue up from 6am this morning. (video made with @headlinervideo) pic.twitter.com/w72kJlQ7A3
— The Northern Quota (@northernquota) June 4, 2021
Mr Brown said people started turning up at 6am in the morning.
“People were turning up and asking yesterday if the vaccine was here so people have come very early and are very keen,’ he said.
“It’s great to see people wanting the vaccine because there’s been lots of negatives about people having it.
“And youngsters – I mean we put some information out on Instagram a couple of weeks ago and only 25% of the people who received that message had said to us they were keen to take the vaccine.
“It looks a little bit different now.”
Over 75% of the country has now had at least one vaccination and it is the under 30s who are still to receive their first jab.
Mr Brown said: “The elder part of the population has their vaccines, and obviously youngsters are now playing catch up.
“They want to go on holiday, they want the vaccine, they want to get out the country.
“I hope that we can match them with the number of vaccines we get through the NHS.”
Those who had been queueing for many hours were sent to Manchester Royal Infirmary to receive their first dose there instead.
The clinic is planning to do further vaccination mornings.