Dr David Vickers, who is the Medical Director of the Cambridgeshire Community Services NHS Trust, said: “From a doctor’s perspective there have been a lot of positive developments recently, such as the use of medications like Dexamethasone, some of the developments in the way to look after people in hospital have improved outcomes but this vaccine is the one that makes people quite rightly think we are beginning to enter a stage where we are winning our fight against the virus, rather than always being on the back foot.”
Peterborough’s vaccination hub, at the City Care Centre on Thorpe Road, opened on Monday (January 25) to frontline health and care workers and to the general public from Tuesday (January 26) with plans to vaccinate hundreds a day and thousands a week in the city’s fight against Covid-19.
12,000 letters have already gone out to patients living within 45 minutes of the city to invite them to attend the facility and receive their jab.
Currently the focus is on vaccinating the over 80s, who are top of the government’s priority list, attention will then shift the over 75s with provisions also made for those that are clinically vulnerable.
Staff have been brought in from a variety of places to assist in giving the jabs including Army personnel from 16 Medical Regiment, part of 16 Air Assault Brigade based in Colchester, volunteers coordinated by the Royal Voluntary Service and St John’s Ambulance service, staff from the care centre, staff seconded from other areas, corporate staff with clinical backgrounds and clinicians from other medical areas.
The centre will be giving out the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine, which does not require any waiting time after receiving the injection.
Patients are free to leave immediately, the only recommendation is that people who are driving should wait 15 minutes just to be sure they are ok. It is also much easier to store than the Pfizer/BioNTech as it can be stored on site for 6 months, much like the winter flu vaccine.
The centre is planned to stay open for as long as required.
Dr Vickers added: “Just like for everybody, the pandemic has been a completely life-changing experience. There has been a huge range of things we’ve had to address in terms of sorting out our services, thinking about how we respond to the needs of our colleagues and supporting them during what is a stressful time for everybody.
“We couldn’t do this without them or our volunteers.
“My message to people is that you will not be forgotten, everybody will get an appointment. Please don’t ring us or your GP as the appointments are made by a national booking system. People can rest assured that they will get an appointment but there are a lot of people to get through and we can’t do them all at once.
“I would also advise people that get offered an appointment to take it.”
With more and more centres opening up and GP surgeries offering the vaccine the hope is that the tide is being turned against the virus in the city.
One of those to receive the vaccine today was Jill Plant who said: “It’s a great relief to get the vaccine, it’s taken a real weight off my mind.”
Dr Vickers has encouraged everyone to consent to getting the vaccine to prevent the number of deaths in the UK from growing further than the 100,000 mark that it passed this week.
He said: “The ongoing rollout of the vaccine feels really positive. It marks the news that we are potentially moving onto a different stage of the pandemic where we start thinking about the possibility of getting back to some normality.
“What we can tell people is that the vaccination is completely safe and has gone through a vigorous process of trials, as any other vaccine would do. The only reason the pace has been so fast is because of the clear public health imperative to do this. “The whole world has been brought to a standstill, therefore all the things that get in the way of developing vaccines have quickly disappeared.
“People who have worked for vaccines that have taken around five years to develop will tell you that four those years are usually spent just waiting. Our regulator The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) have given the data a thorough review and they are clear they would not approve a vaccine unless it meets the safety standards.
“There is absolutely no evidence for some of these theories that the vaccines will alter your DNA and there are no animal products inside of it. It is simply a process of introducing your body to the right proteins to allow it to fight the virus.”
1. Mass vaccination centre at the City Care Centre, Thorpe Road .
Jill Plant receives her jab from Dr Gillian Mitchell. Photo: Midlands
