Twice the amount of people will be vaccinated in Helston this weekend thanks to an unexpected double delivery and medical staff rallying around at short notice.

It means that more than 2,200 further people should have received their vaccine by the end of Monday.

Helston Medical Centre, which is the vaccination hub for the town and surrounding areas, said it had been "blown away" by the response from the four GP practices involved in carrying out the vaccinations - Helston Medical Centre including Porthleven Surgery, Meneage Street Surgery, Mullion & Constantine Group, and St Keverne Health Centre - after an extra box of vaccines was delivered.

The practice was due one box yesterday, but two ended up being delivered.

To ensure they do not go to waste, staff from all four practices have agreed to work extra hours on Sunday and Monday, meaning two extra vaccination days will be held this week, in addition to the Friday and Saturday clinics planned.

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With one box of the Pfizer vaccine able to vaccinate between 975 and 1,170 patients, it will give a huge boost to the local area.

Explaining more, a spokesperson for Helston Medical Centre said: "This vaccine has to be used within a set, short, time frame. We were due one box yesterday but were somewhat surprised – well, shocked – to find they had sent two.

"After a quick message around we were quite simply blown away to find enough people across all four practices willing to work extra on Sunday and Monday to enable us to use this box for our South Kerrier PCN residents.

"So, we will now be running clinics on Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday."

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The booking teams have subsequently been contacting another 1,100 plus people today, and the clinics are described as "filling nicely".

"The Helston Lizard Rotary club have worked their volunteer magic and we are set to protect another 1,100 plus people in addition to our planned clinics," added the practice spokesperson.

She said that by now everyone in Helston and Lizard area who is aged 80 or over should have been contacted if they are able to come into the surgery.

Anyone is aged 80 and over, or who has a relative or friend who is, and is able to get to the surgery in Helston but hasn’t heard from the team yet is now asked to give their own surgery a call.