More than 14,000 people aged 18 to 29 in Grampian have already registered their interest for the Covid-19 vaccine.
The age group were invited to register from Monday and NHS Grampian has confirmed over 14,600 people have already signed up.
By registering, people in the cohort will be able to get all their appointment information via text or email, rather than by post.
Earlier this month, NHS Grampian said there was an increase in the number of people not turning up for their jag.
With the second phase – delivering the jag to all adults under the age of 50 – now underway, some locations across the north-east previously recorded as many as half of all appointments are unattended.
No-show rates rise but programme proving ‘successful’
An NHS Grampian spokeswoman said: “Since commencing cohorts 10 and 11 – those aged 49 and under – we have seen Did Not Attend (DNA) rates running between 20 to 50% across the whole programme.
“There will be a number of reasons why we are seeing DNA rates rise.
“Firstly, these cohorts will contain many more people of working age and coincide with the easing of restrictions and opening of more workplaces.
“Childcare and other family responsibilities are another likely factor.
“It is vitally important that anyone who receives an appointment and cannot attend – or do not wish to attend – lets us know as soon as possible.
“Each letter contains contact details for rearranging appointments. Please use these as it enables us to offer slots to other people in a planned way.
“Simply not turning up means we have to arrange appointments at short notice, which results in a poorer experience for everyone coming for vaccination.
“We have already offered a number of targeted community clinics, in both Aberdeen City and Moray, to enable as many people to get vaccinated as possible.
If you are a student changing address over summer, the best way to ensure you get your vaccine appointment is to register on https://t.co/n1Op3XnyNV by 4 June and your date/time/location will be sent to you by email or SMS when ready pic.twitter.com/8ZVQMQxxC6
— Aberdeen City Council (@AberdeenCC) May 25, 2021
“We are planning to run more of these clinics, some of which may operate on a drop-in basis.
“A self-registration portal is now open for everyone aged 18 to 29 and so far, over 14,600 have registered from Grampian.”
The portal to register is open until Friday, June 4 and can be accessed here.
Those without internet access or a smartphone can call the national helpline on 0800 030 8013 to register instead.
Those who turn 18 between May 17, 2021 and the end of March 2022 will be appointed via a letter.
Appointments for this group are expected to commence later in June.
An NHS Grampian spokeswoman added: “Overall, the uptake of the offer to be vaccinated has been incredibly successful, we will continue to work with all age groups and communities to ensure the uptake is as high as possible.”
Overall uptake remains ‘incredibly high’
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon reiterated the importance of getting vaccinated at yesterday’s coronavirus briefing.
She added: “All of us continue to have a part to play, in particular, the importance of vaccination.
“The latest data shows that two doses of either vaccine offer high levels of protection against this new variant.
“We also expect that vaccines will offer even higher levels of effectiveness against hospitalisation and dying.
“We are currently working to accelerate the programme as far and as fast as supply allows, that includes speeding up second doses.
“Obviously, we can only vaccinate if everyone comes forward when they get their appointment letter.
“At some sites over the weekend, we saw quite a high level of non-attendance for appointments, which had been scheduled.
“Although, it is important to stress that overall uptake rates remain incredibly high.
“And it is also important to say when people don’t attend there will be a variety of reasons for this. Some of them will not be down to the individual, so nobody is pointing any fingers here.
“On the contrary, we now have to work together to ensure we get uptake rates and keep uptake rates as high as we need them to be.
“For all of us that means that getting vaccinated is about protecting ourselves, but it’s also part of our civic duty to each other and our wider communities.
“For government, it’s about making vaccination as easy as possible and we will continue to explore and implement all possible ways of doing that.”
She said anyone who thinks they should have had an appointment but hasn’t, should visit the NHS Inform website to arrange an appointment.