There have been great strides with the vaccination programme. The delivery of the COVID-19 vaccine has expanded from Croydon and St George’s to ten primary care sites run by GPs and their teams across South-West London. Over the following weeks more practices will be administering the vaccine on a phased basis during December and into the New Year.
Over 9,000 residents aged 80 plus, care home workers and NHS staff have already received the vaccine. Those 80 and above who are already attending hospital as an outpatient and those who are being discharged home after a hospital stay are among the first to receive the jab.
The NHS will contact people in the previously announced priority groups over 80’s and care home staff and residents when it is their turn to receive the vaccine. The NHS will invite more groups of people and in more ways as more vaccines become available.
Patients & Care homes do not need to do anything. They will be contacted by the local NHS services directly and booked in for a Covid vaccination depending on their priority. There is national prioritisation published for which groups in sequence will be contacted and vaccinated dependant on vaccine availability.
At the moment only the over 80’s are being contacted and appointments made for then depending on where they are located. Care homes will also soon start (imminently) to be individually contacted so that residents and care home staff can be vaccinated.
It is going to take some months to get everyone eligible vaccinated. For some it will be a little wait. When mass vaccination sites come on line in due course next year the information on how to receive your vaccination may change.
The first two Croydon community sites are now live in Coulsdon and Purley, which have been identified given the high populations of over 80’s.
This is the biggest vaccination programme in NHS history which is being rolled out with a flu vaccination for the over 50’s. The intention is to continue routine work for patients with suspected cancers, heart disease, diabetes and other disease whilst trying to cope with the rise in COVID-19 infections alongside winter illnesses which of course put pressure on all services
Meanwhile, we must all continue to adhere to the local tier restrictions. Here in Croydon we are Tier 4. The Prime Minister has announced tougher restrictions for London and large parts of the South East of England which means we must “Stay at Home” as much as possible. The decision follows a rapid rise in infections attributed to the rapid spread of the new variant of COVID-19.You should not leave the house unless you have a permitted purpose to do so such as buying food or medicine, to attend a medical appointment or COVID-19 test or to exercise. The link to the guidance follows: Tier 4: Stay at Home - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
