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LONDON TAR29 UK-VIRUS-VACCINE
10 new mass vaccination centres to open up across UK
LONDON, Jan 17, 2021 (BSS/PTI) – Ten new large-scale centres,
including a rugby ground, racecourse, food court and a cathedral,
will open up next week across Britain to join the seven already
delivering vaccines to immunise against COVID-19, the UK’s
National Health Service (NHS) said on Sunday.
It comes as a further 324,233 vaccine doses were administered
across the UK to take the total above 3.5 million, a milestone
hailed by Prime Minister Boris Johnson as a “fantastic national
effort”.
The state-funded health service leading the UK’s “biggest”
vaccination programme in history also confirmed more than 1
million people aged 80 or over have been invited to book a
coronavirus jab at a Vaccination Centre.
There are now 1,000 general practice (GP) led services and
more than 250 hospitals offering coronavirus vaccinations, with
dozens of new high street pharmacies stores also jabbing people by
the end of next week.
“The NHS vaccination programme, the biggest in NHS history,
is off to a strong start with more than three million people
receiving the life-saving jab, including more than a third of
those aged 80 or over,” said Ruth May, chief nursing officer for
England.
“We are adding more sites as more vaccine supplies become
available, so that people can choose a convenient option, with
around a million invites sent over the last week for those aged 80
and over. Having worked alongside clinicians at my local hospital
I know how tough it is for our staff treating an increasing number
of seriously ill people with COVID-19 – so I cannot stress enough
how important it is that everyone plays their part by practicing
social distancing and following the national guidance,” she said.
The UK government is also urging the public to “play their
part” in supporting the drive by helping people attend their
appointments.
UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock asked people to commit to
three pledges to “help out”, “join up” and “stay informed” during
ongoing efforts to vaccinate, run clinical trials and share
accurate health advice.
The NHS said that vaccination centres offer a convenient
option for those who do not want to wait to be contacted by GPs or
hospitals. People aged 80 or over living up to a 45-minute drive
from the 17 centres are being written to with the option of
choosing to arrange a vaccination there or at a pharmacy site
through the new national booking service. Alternatively, people
can choose to wait to be contacted in due course by their local
GP-led vaccination service.
The NHS said it sent out 641,000 invitations last week and
another 380,000 are landing on doormats this weekend. Another half
a million will go out in the coming week.
Appointments are staggered to allow for social distancing and
people who do book one are being asked not to turn up early to
avoid creating queues. The 10 new centres mean there will be at
least one in each health region and help to ensure that people are
within reach of a jabbing service, including more rural parts of
the country.
Care home residents who are unable to travel to vaccine
centres, hospitals or GP-led sites, are being jabbed at their
homes.
The NHS highlighted how it made history when Maggie Keenan
became the first person in the world to be protected against
coronavirus outside of a clinical trial when she received the
Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine at Coventry Hospital on December 8, 2020.
The NHS was also the first health system to deliver the new
Oxford/AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine when Brian Pinker, 82, was
jabbed earlier this month.
The priority groups for receiving the vaccine were set by the
government following advice from the Joint Committee on
Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI). The government has committed
itself to a target of vaccinating all the vulnerable groups in the
top JCVI categories by February 15.
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