Covid vaccination booster clinics will be starting at Bridport medical centre to protect even more people this winter.

West Dorset has more than 12,000 patients still requiring a booster.

The centre is running a session on Saturday, December 19 where 1,500 patients will be vaccinated, prioritising patients aged over 70 who have not yet received a booster.

Patients will receive a text invite - if you know anyone who may struggle with this booking system, please do help them - and the team may also call patients if it has resources to do so.

The team at Ammonite Health Partnership plan to vaccinate on:

• Monday, December 20

• Tuesday, December 21 - nothing at Bridport but a pop-up clinic at Maiden Newton

• Wednesday, December 22

• Thursday, December 23

• Tuesday, December 28 (to be confirmed)

• Wednesday, December 29

• Thursday, December 30

• Friday, December 31 All dates will be subject to change and dependent on vaccine and vaccinator supply. All boosters will be by invitation only and there will be no walk-in clinics. The reception team does not have the capacity to book Covid boosters. A spokesman for Ammonite Health Partnership said: "We have been advised that all other primary care work is to be deferred over this period. This is not something we will do lightly as we are already working with backlogs due to previous Covid lockdowns and staff shortages due to self-isolation and sickness. "For Ammonite, 8,000 patients still require a booster. There will not be sufficient capacity at our site to vaccinate all those that are due a booster; there is not the capacity to do so, without seriously affecting patient care. "We ask that patients who are able to travel consider booking via 119 and taking the offer of a vaccine at another near location. This will ensure there is capacity for those who find ravelling more difficult to be vaccinated at our Bridport site." The medical centre will still be open and GPs will still be triaging any requests for more urgent medical attention, with patients still able to request and collect prescriptions. The spokesman added: "We ask that you please bear with us over this time. Your surgery has already vaccinated the West Dorset population, twice, with no back up mass vaccination site nearby to support us. "The team is pretty much exhausted but excited to help out again. We only ask that you use us wisely over the next two weeks and into January as we will get the inevitable New Year surge in demand on our service. "Please be kind. We can do this together." Don't forget to sign up to our newsletter below! You can submit your own news straight to Bridport Nub News by using the 'Nub It' button on our home page. This can also be done for events on our What's On page and businesses, groups and organisations on our Local Listings page , also by using the 'Nub It' button. Please like and follow our online newspaper on your favourite social media channel. You can find us @BridportNubNews on Facebook and Twitter.