CONCERNS have been raised about queues of up to two hours for Covid-19 vaccine booster jabs in Dumbarton and the Vale.

Councillors said they had seen lengthy lines outside centres as well as family members experiencing long waits as thousands of older and vulnerable residents await their third jab and the seasonal flu vaccine.

Councillor David McBride said his mother was recently in a queue for two hours.

He said: “On the third round, we would expect this to be better. Are we booking in too many people at one time? There is adequate staff?”

Cllr McBride also asked if there were concerns that vulnerable residents were mixing, for hours, with younger and unvaccinated residents.

And he asked why the Concord Centre in Dumbarton was not being used for boosters as it had been earlier in the vaccination programme.

Councillor Jim Bollan said he saw a “logjam” at the vaccination centre in Alexandria, with the queue going around the building twice.

Council chief executive Joyce White said the booster rollout was a national programme and they were providing local resources and space for vaccinations. She said she was aware of “some of the challenges” and they had raised the concerns with the health board.

Beth Culshaw, chief officer of West Dunbartonshire Health and Social Care Partnership, said there had been some national scheduling issues, while algorithms were sending some residents to get jabs “as the crow flies” across the river to Port Glasgow instead of Dumbarton and the Vale.

But Ms Culshaw insisted the IT issues were not adding to delays.

She said there were some concerns that people in lines would lose their place if they sat down, but staff advised this would not happen.

Mrs White said: “We are not satisfied that our residents are queuing. I asked for this to be escalated to the health board. We will continue to get messages out that people need to push back to get the most appropriate location.”

Council staff added that the Concord, which was reopening for vaccinations on October 31, hadn’t been needed to meet the booster delivery programme. And other centres were not running at full capacity.

They will also monitor the progress of rolling out the vaccine to youngsters aged 12 to 15 and how best to push that forward. Currently 12 per cent of that group have had a first dose.

For those aged 18 to 29, 62 per cent have had two doses. That drops to 9 per cent for 16 and 17 year olds.