Facilities Rally To Assist The Battle Against The Virus
Government claims that with the addition of seven new Covid‑19 vaccinations centres opened across England, one sited in each region of the country, will facilitate the administering of the vaccine to 13 million most vulnerable people by mid February.
The plan is to vaccinate thousands of patients each week, beginning on Monday with over-80s and healthcare staff.
These new centres will operate alongside more than 1,000 GP surgeries and hospitals already offering vaccinations, with the total number of sites expected to reach 1,200 by the end of the week.
The health secretary, Matt Hancock, said in a recently broadcasted interview that about two million people had already been vaccinated, including one-third of the over-80’s. Whilst stating that they were on course, he added that the only rate-limiting factor at the moment is supply!
Mr Hancock also stated that in this past week more people have been vaccinated than in the month of December, illustrating that they were accelerating the roll-out with over 200,000 people being vaccinated every day and pledged to vaccinate every adult by the autumn, describing this plan as “the keystone of our exit out of the pandemic”.
Nadhim Zahawi, the minister in charge of vaccine deployment, was quoted as saying that the government’s plan will "set out our ambitions for the coming weeks and months as we continue to expand our programme at breakneck speed".
Mr Zahawi has been asked why the giant vaccination centres were only running between the hours of 8am and 8pm, not 24 hours a day, and he justified that by stating that limitation was determined by the amount of vaccine that is coming through and also added that the current opening hours were most convenient for the older people who were being inoculated. However, he also stated that a 24-hour operation would be considered by government if it became possible to do so.
The seven sites opened on Monday were Ashton Gate in Bristol, Epsom racecourse in Surrey, ExCel London, Newcastle's Centre for Life, the Manchester Tennis and Football Centre, Robertson House in Stevenage and Birmingham's Millennium Point.
Letters are being sent out to more than half a million people aged 80 and over who live up to 45 minutes’ drive from any of these the locations, inviting them to book an appointment if they have not already received a jab.
These sites are also vaccinating health and care workers in each of the areas.
Professor Stephen Powis, NHS England’s national medical director, is also reported as saying that increasing supplies means the NHS can open even more vaccination services and protect even more people this week, while NHS colleagues are working hard to ensure we can offer vaccines to all of those who would benefit most over the next month, at the same time as providing care for everyone who needs it. He stressed that the NHS need the public to help them.
