Man Offered Covid-19 Vaccine Because NHS Thought He Was 6cm Tall

Liam Thorp was surprised when he received a text inviting him to receive a Covid-19 vaccine - given that he is 32 with no underlying health conditions. Watch him explain what happened here:

After receiving his invite, the political editor of the Liverpool Echo subsequently decided to call his GP and see if there had been a mistake, but he was told he had been placed into group six of the priority list because of his weight.

Liam was taken aback by this, considering himself a little on the chunky side - not clinically obese.

But his initial doubts were vindicated when his GP surgery called back this morning (Wednesday 17 February).

Writing for the Liverpool Echo, Liam said: "A nervous sounding chap on the line began quietly explaining to me that there had been a mix-up in offering me a vaccine at this stage.

"He said unfortunately my details had been put into the system incorrectly when I had registered with the GP just a year ago.

Liverpool Echo

"He was really polite and very apologetic but said I was in fact not due to get my vaccine anytime soon.

"To be honest I was quite relieved as had felt strange about being invited ahead of so many other more vulnerable people.

"But obviously I had to know more about the mix-up that had led to this moment."

He continued: "The man from the surgery took a sharp intake of breath and tried to remain composed as he informed me that rather than having my height registered as six foot two, it had been put into the system as 6.2 centimetres.

"I'm not sure how he kept it together when he told me that this, combined with my weight, had given me a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 28,000."

To give you a little perspective, a BMI of anything over 40 is considered severly obese, making him an impossibly dense tiny man.

Liverpool Echo

Clearly, this is highly amusing; however, the fact a healthy young man has been erroneously offered the vaccine before millions of more vulnerable people is evidently a concern.

Dr Fiona Lemmens, chair of Liverpool Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCG), urged others who suspect they've been offered a vaccine prematurely to contact their GP for clarification.

She said: "I can see the funny side of this story but also recognise there is an important issue for us to address.

"There are millions of GP appointments taking place every day and while we take care to make sure records are accurate occasional data errors do occur.

"We are grateful to Liam for his honesty and for alerting his GP practice when he received his vaccination invitation.

"We would encourage anyone who has received a text invitation that they think they are not eligible for at this stage, to contact their GP practice to clarify. This will help ensure that more vulnerable people get vaccinated first."

Topics: UK News, vaccine, NHS, Covid-19

Jake Massey

Jake Massey is a journalist at LADbible. He graduated from Newcastle University, where he learnt a bit about media and a lot about living without heating. After spending a few years in Australia and New Zealand, Jake secured a role at an obscure radio station in Norwich, inadvertently becoming a real-life Alan Partridge in the process. From there, Jake became a reporter at the Eastern Daily Press. Jake enjoys playing football, listening to music and writing about himself in the third person.

@jakesmassey