PEOPLE are being urged not to try to "pick and choose" which Covid vaccine they have.

Bridgwater and West Somerset MP Ian Liddell-Grainger is telling constituents that the three jabs all offer a similar level of protection against the virus.

He said he had received disturbing reports of people arriving at vaccination centres, questioning which vaccine they were to be given - and leaving if they felt it was not the best one.

Mr Liddell-Grainger has blasted the behaviour "utterly irresponsible".

He added: “When the country is in the grip of the worst pandemic in living memory we simply cannot have people deciding they don’t like and don’t want a particular vaccine merely on the basis of something they may have heard about it.

“The advice from the scientists is clear and unequivocal. All the vaccines now approved for use offer more or less the same level of protection.

“The important thing at the moment is to get as many people vaccinated as possible so we can really get a grip on infection rates.”

Mr Liddell-Grainger has already called on people to attend for vaccination unquestioningly as soon as they are called after reports that some appointments were being turned down because they were inconvenient – or even because they were too late in the day.

He said far too many people were still failing to appreciate the urgency of the situation.

He added: “Being able to attack the virus on three separate fronts is a great advantage.

"When scientists have devoted such massive efforts to developing and delivering these vaccines in record time and the NHS has pulled out all the stops to set up vaccination centres across the country it is frankly ludicrous for people to then act as though they are choosing something from an a la carte menu.

“It’s frustrating for medical and nursing staff; it creates considerable administrative problems at a time the NHS doesn’t need any more; and in all honesty it’s an incredibly selfish attitude which could push back the day when we can finally say we have the disease under control and life can return to something like normal.”