North Yorkshire’s NHS Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) has said that walk-in centres are currently being set up across the county as the roll-out of the booster vaccine ramps up.

It said that the best way to book a booster vaccination is online via the National Booking Service on the NHS website and that jabs are now available to those 18 and over – providing it has been 91 days since the second vaccine dose.

Louise Wallace, North Yorkshire’s Director of Public Health, said: "Vaccination remains our best form of defence.

"We are working to understand whether there is any vaccine escape by the new variant, but nonetheless the message is that everyone should come forward to get vaccinated."

Booster jabs are now available to anyone aged 18 and over.

The National Booking Service opened on Wednesday December 15 and sites available in Scarborough include The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on Stepney Drive, Morrisons on Dunslow Road in Eastfield and Scarborough Rugby Club on Scalby Road.

It said to note that these sites are currently for booking through the online service only and are not walk-in clinics, which will be widely advertised at a later date when available.

The latest available data from NHS England shows almost 27.2 million people aged 18 and over have still not had a booster dose, including thousands of people in Scarborough borough.

Scarborough borough’s seven-day rate per 100,000 people is now 251, a drop of 47 on this time last week. It remains the lowest infection rate in the county.

North Yorkshire's CCG said it was setting up walk-in centres across the county.

The CCG said the NHS is experiencing high demand from patients at the moment and urged residents to be patient and respectful of the staff who are working under great pressures at the moment.

On Wednesday, the UK's Chief Medical Adviser Professor Chris Whitty, who appeared alongside Boris Johnson at a Downing Street news conference, said: "Don’t mix with people you don’t have to."

He advised the public to "prioritise social interactions that really matter to them".

Omicron: Walk-in Covid booster vaccine roll-out ramps up across North Yorkshire