NHS Covid-19 jab letters 'confusing over 80s'People waiting to receive the Covid-19 vaccine say they are confused by NHS letters inviting them to travel to centres miles away from their homes.
The first 130,000 letters have been sent to people aged 80 or older who live between a 30 to 45-minute drive from one of seven new regional centres.
But patients, many of whom are shielding, questioned why they had to travel so far in a pandemic.
Local jabs are available to people if they wait, the NHS said.
The seven centres include Ashton Gate in Bristol, Epsom racecourse in Surrey, London's Nightingale hospital, Newcastle's Centre for Life, the Manchester Tennis and Football Centre, Robertson House in Stevenage and Birmingham's Millennium Point.
Two Labour MPs tweeted about their concerns about the letters being delayed in getting out to people due to coronavirus affecting Royal Mail staff.
Mary McGarry from Leamington Spa in Warwickshire told BBC News that her letter points to an NHS online booking page which suggests she would have to take her husband, who has cancer and a lung disease, 20 miles to Birmingham.
Dr Sarah Raistrick, from Coventry and Rugby Clinical Commission group (CCG), said people did not have to travel to the centres but admitted the letter did not make that clear.
"You can wait and be contacted by your local GP service and have it locally if you'd prefer.
"If you sit tight, you will be contacted and I'm hopeful that if you're 80 or over, by the end of this month you will have had your vaccination whether that is locally or whether you have chosen to travel," she said.
Work will be done with the NHS locally and nationally to make that message clearer, she added.