"Do not delay getting NHS vaccine" urges North West top doctor

The North West’s top doctor has urged everyone who is entitled to a Covid jab to come forward, as new figures show the NHS vaccination programme racked up record numbers of jabs last week.

Regional medical director Dr David Levy called on anyone who qualifies for a jab but has not yet received one to book an appointment in the next few days before slots dry up.

The call came after NHS staff delivered a record-breaking weekend of vaccinations , including the region’s best ever day on Saturday 20 March, when 84,000 jabs were given across the north west.

Four in five people in the first nine priority groups have now received at least one dose since the NHS vaccination programme, the biggest in health service history, kicked off a little over 100 days ago.

Regional medical director (North West) Dr David Levy said: “Thanks to the hard work of NHS staff and volunteers across the North West, we are continuing to protect people against coronavirus at a record pace. We have plenty of supply this week, but appointments are filling up fast and I’d urge people who are eligible for the vaccine not to delay and to book their jab now.”

Far fewer appointments will be available for first doses from next week as the bulk of available supplies are used to full vaccinate people with a second jab.
 

Residents in the Rochdale borough in groups one to nine, which includes everyone aged 50 and over, are being invited to phone or email to book an appointment for their first dose of a vaccine.
Residents aged 50 or over, those who have been advised to shield by the government (the clinically extremely vulnerable), people over 16 with long term conditions, carers and health and social care workers who have not yet received an invitation for a vaccine, and are registered with a GP in the borough (Heywood, Littleborough, Middleton, Milnrow and Rochdale), can now book an appointment at one of the four vaccination centres in the borough by calling 0300 303 0355 (Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm, Saturday and Sunday 10am to 4pm) or emailing hmrccg.hmr.enquiries@nhs.net.

The proportion of people aged 50-54 having their first jab nationally has shot up over the past week from 42% to seven in 10 with the NHS now putting a laser focus on inviting everybody in the most at-risk cohorts protected ahead of 15 April and more constrained supply of available doses next month.

People with a learning disability or living with an underlying health condition like serious asthma, who are yet to get their jab are being urged to book before 29 March.

 

 

Doctors, nurses and thousands of other staff, supported by volunteers and others, are delivering the life-saving jab at more than 1,600 sites ranging from cathedrals, mosques and temples to racecourses, sports stadiums, cinemas and museums.

The Rochdale borough has four community vaccination centres in operation; the site at Number One Riverside in Rochdale town centre, the Phoenix Centre in Heywood, Middleton Health Centre and Littleborough Sports Centre. Vaccinations are also being administered at Rochdale Infirmary five days a week.

The NHS is inviting those eligible for a jab by letter and text with GPs also calling some patients.

Text invitations appear as an alert from ‘NHSvaccine’ and letters include a web link to click and reserve an appointment at one of more than 300 large-scale vaccination centres or pharmacies across England.

The Greater Manchester NHS Vaccination Centre is based at the Etihad Campus in East Manchester.

Anybody aged 50 or over can book themselves in for a first dose before 29 March online using the national booking system.

People aged 18 and over, who are clinically vulnerable, should also book themselves in for a jab this month.

More than 24 million people have been vaccinated since the launch of the largest vaccination programme in the history of the NHS last December.

The NHS made history when 90-year-old Maggie Keenan was the first recipient in the world outside a clinical trial of a Pfizer vaccine at Coventry Hospital on 8 December.

Brian Pinker, 82, was the first person to be vaccinated with the new Oxford/AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine on 4 January by the NHS in Oxford, where the jab was created.