There follows an update on the vaccination programme from Agnelo and Matthew:
More than one million Covid-19 vaccinations have now been given in south west London, which marks another incredible milestone. We can all rightly be proud of what has been achieved so far but there will be no let-up in our efforts over the coming weeks and months.
With restrictions easing it is tempting to push Covid-19 towards the back of our minds, but as our social contact increases, so too does the potential to spread the virus.
We will be urging people not to go overboard this weekend or in the coming weeks, and hope you will join us – precautions are still needed to protect the people we love, especially those not yet vaccinated.
The prime minister made an important announcement on Friday that people at greater risk of getting seriously ill due to Covid-19 are to be offered their second vaccine earlier as part of plans to tackle the spread of the variant first identified in India.
Appointments for a second dose of a vaccine will be brought forward from 12 to 8 weeks for the remaining people who are over 50 or those who are more clinically vulnerable to coronavirus. This is those people in the top 9 priority groups.
The NHS will contact those who should bring their appointment forward when they are able to do so. Nobody needs to contact the NHS.
To make it easier for local people to take up their Covid-19 vaccination we are opening up a number of our centres as a walk in service for those who are eligible. Please do share to help us promote these local services:
- Selhurst Park Walk-in Clinic Over 40s and frontline health and social care workers who haven’t had their vaccine can attend a walk-in clinic at Selhurst Park on Sunday 23 May from 8am-7pm. On Friday 21 May, there is an extended twilight clinic here running until 9.45pm. Please Retweet
- Centrale Shopping Centre Walk-in Clinic For over 34 year olds - a walk in centre at Centrale shopping centre is open on Friday 21 May from 6pm-9.45pm. Please Retweet
- Croydon Hospital Walk-in Clinic is open every day this week until Sunday 23 May from 8am-7pm. Please Retweet You can also see a short film about the walk in clinic here Retweet
- Pop up clinics at Croydon Mosque and Trinity Baptist Church We are also holding an over 40s pop-up clinic at Croydon Mosque on Saturday 22 May from 2pm-6pm. Please Retweet This will be followed by another over 40s pop-up clinic at Trinity Baptist Church on Saturday 29 May from 12-4pm.
Younger people in South West London have told us that there are three main areas of concern about the Covid-19 vaccinations, these are:
- Effectiveness
- Fertility, breastfeeding and pregnancy
- Side effects and long-term health impacts
We have refreshed our communications and engagement plans which are currently being iterated with our partners, a version will be circulated shortly and the findings can be found here.
We hope you find this regular update helpful, please do let us know if you have any questions.
Thank you,
Matthew Kershaw
Placed Based Leader for Health, Croydon
Dr Agnelo Fernandes
GP Borough Lead for Croydon
NHS South West London Clinical Commissioning Group
