Care home bosses today blasted Britain's chaotic Covid booster vaccine drive which has yet to reach hundreds of thousands of elderly residents.
Industry chiefs revealed some facilities have not even been contacted about getting top-up jabs dished out to residents and staff.
And they claimed that inoculation teams aren't always bringing coronavirus vaccines with them when they administer flu jabs to the elderly.
Nadra Ahmed, chair of the National Care Association, claimed the roll-out isn't going as 'smooth as the previous one'.
Meanwhile, the Outstanding Manager Network — a group representing care home managers — spoke of its 'frustration' and 'nerves about the winter'.
Boosters began being dished out on September 16 to over-50s, health and social care workers and people with underlying health conditions. They are a key part of the Government's winter plan to manage the spread of the pandemic.
But the sluggish rollout has been criticised, with up to 5million people eligible for a third dose yet to receive it.
Former Prime Minister Tony Blair today demanded the Government sets concrete targets to speed the drive up to jab 500,000 a day. It's currently only reaching about 200,000.
NHS bosses are already facing calls to urgently speed up the programme, with up to 5million people eligible for a third dose yet to receive it. Former Prime Minister Tony Blair today demanded the Government sets concrete targets to speed the drive up to jab 500,000 a day. It's currently only reaching about 200,000. The graph shows the number of booster jabs that have been administered each day (orange bars) the cumulative booster doses given in October (red line) and the cumulative, compared to the rollout of second doses that were dished out in April (blue line)
Boosters began being dished out on September 16 to over- 50s, health and social care workers and people with underlying health conditions
Ms Ahmed told BBC Radio 4's Today programme 'the entire methodology of getting this booster in is not quite mirroring what we did last time'.
She said care homes are waiting to be contacted and if they contact surgeries, GPs tell them to contact the NHS instead.
Ms Ahmed added: 'We have got some homes who are telling us they have not been contacted at all, which is really worrying because they know that they are in the cohort to be having it. They are worried.
'We are hearing every day that providers are saying to us that "We have not been contacted yet" or "We were contacted to be ready and it is two weeks since then".
'There is a concern because obviously the six-month gap is getting bigger and bigger so the efficacy of the vaccine is reducing.'
Ms Ahmed said: 'We have infection rates that are rising so, for both staff and residents, there is this fear.
