SOME people who are eligible for flu and COVID vaccination in Fife will have to wait longer as more vulnerable patients are prioritised.

The national decision to rephase the innoculation programme was made in August and means that those at the highest risk will be seen first.

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The majority of the remaining appointments available in the Kingdom now fall in November and December.

The Fife Health and Social Care Partnership’s head of primary and preventative care, Lisa Cooper, said: "The uptake of appointments for flu and COVID vaccination has been very good thus far, which is really encouraging.

“Around 190,000 people in Fife are eligible for flu vaccination, and vaccinating all of those who are eligible will take us a number of months to complete.

"We continue to make appointments available right up until mid-December, ahead of when we usually expect peak flu season.

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"The high uptake, coupled with the national rephasing of the flu and COVID programme, has put considerable pressure on appointments with the majority of remaining appointments available in November and December.

"We have recently been able to make an additional 12,000 appointments available and we continue to look at means to enable us to increase this further."

Vaccination was brought forward for those aged 75 and over, those with weakened immune systems and care home residents due to the identification of a new COVID variant.

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This means some people who are eligible and received letters inviting them to make an appointment, but who are not at the highest risk level, are more likely to be seen later in the campaign.