MORE than a fifth of the over-70s who were due to be vaccinated at East End Park on Saturday did not turn up for their jab.

NHS Fife confirmed that 120 people out of around 550 missed or cancelled their appointment at the clinic in Dunfermline – but added that it shouldn't have any "material impact" on the programme.

It was a bitterly cold and snowy day and the East End Park clinic had also been affected by problems with the national booking system, which left elderly Fifers queuing outside and facing "unacceptable" waits last week.

Douglas Gregory, from Dunfermline, said he was told by staff there had been "200 no-shows or cancellations" on the day.

He told the Press: "I was due to have my AstraZeneca vaccine at 7.33pm on Saturday at East End Park, I was surprised to receive a phone call from the NHS to ask if I could come earlier as the centre was quiet.

"I was more than happy to oblige. On arrival, there were fewer than 10 people being, or waiting to be, vaccinated.

"The nurse told me they had 200 no-shows or cancellations on that day.

"Given that everyone in that category has had at least a week to organise themselves, I was very disappointed to hear that.

"I wonder if this was a one-off, or at least I would hope so, but it certainly would be worth looking at on the basis that this could have a major knock-on effect for the second jab if the 'no-shows' expect to be fitted in.

"Apart from that, the centre and the staff were spot on."

Director of pharmacy and medicines, Scott Garden, said: “The COVID-19 clinic at East End Park in Dunfermline was well-attended despite the wintry weather conditions that have affected Fife over the last week or so.

“Some 430 people attended our clinic at East End Park on Saturday of around 550 appointments booked.

"The safety of those attending our clinics is our first priority and we asked those with appointments only to attend if it was safe to do so.

"Those people who could not attend as a result of the weather conditions will be reappointed automatically.

“The scale of the COVID-19 vaccination programme is vast, and the rescheduling of these appointments will not have any material impact on the delivery of COVID-19 vaccinations here in Fife.”

In a separate move, a number of Fifers who were due to get their jab at East End Park last week were sent a second letter to say their booking had been postponed and rescheduled.

Mr Garden explained: "An error with the national scheduling tool last week meant that many more appointments were created at some of our clinics than we had capacity to manage. This issue has since been resolved.

"In order to postpone as few appointments as possible, we expanded the affected clinics and added additional vaccinators at these venues.

"It was necessary, however, to postpone some appointments towards the end of last week, many of which have already been rescheduled."