As the Omicron Covid variant spreads, the Prime Minister has announced a lofty goal for booster vaccinations that presents a logistical challenge for local health organisations.

Boris Johnson stated that 23 million extra booster jabs would be administered by January, meaning the local NHS must expand its Covid jab programme.

At the current rate of 2.5 million vaccinations a week it would likely take until March to hit the promised figure.

But one Swindon-based GP believes that the town will be able to meet that challenge locally.

Speaking to BBC Radio Wiltshire Dr Ramanjeet Arora, who has been working with the vaccine programme at STEAM said this task was possible.

“Certainly, Swindon has the capacity to provide that kind of outcome so I do think that this is possible” said the doctor.

“If we collaborate well, if we communicate well, we have a very good relationship going in terms of provision of care with the government, with the GPs delivering their best, I do think that this is deliverable.”

Mr Johnson also said that hundreds of military personnel would be drafted in to help with the vaccinations and logistics of delivering them and that "temporary vaccine centres would be ‘popping up like Christmas trees".

“We want to ramp up capacity across the whole of the United Kingdom to the levels we achieved in the previous vaccination effort,” he said.

“We’re going to throw everything at it. Across England we’ll have more than 1,500 community pharmacy sites vaccinating people near where you live.

“All of our sites will increase capacity. There’ll be temporary vaccination centres popping up like Christmas trees.”

Despite the sense of urgency, local NHS leaders are encouraging people to wait until they are contacted to book a vaccine. There are fears that people booking before they are asked will clog up the booking system and risk delaying vital jabs for those who are in a higher-risk category.

There are also reports of people finding it difficult to find an appointment to receive a booster vaccine locally, although some areas of Wiltshire, like Trowbridge and Warminster, are said to be more affected.

Kate Blackburn, Wiltshire’s director of public health , admitted it was a problem.

“Not only is it really frustrating, but it’s concerning that people might then decide that it’s too difficult and I’m not going to go and have my booster, and we really don’t want that to happen,” she said.

The Bath & North East Somerset, Swindon and Wiltshire Clinical Commissioning Group declined to give BBC Radio Wiltshire a comment, saying it needed time to go through the new proposals from the government properly.

The latest figures for Swindon, from NHS England, showed that 41,527 people aged 50 and over in Swindon had received a booster jab or third vaccine dose by November 21.

This is less than half of the number who could have have one.