Rollout of Oxford/AstraZeneca Covid vaccine underway in Peterborough and Cambridgeshire

The vaccine is the second of its kind to be approved for use in the UK after the Pfizer/BioNTech jab that began its rollout in the city last month.

It is being rolled out to General Practice led services from today (January 7) after being trialled at selected hospitals for surveillance purposes before being sent out to hundreds of community-based local vaccination services.

Unlike the Pfizer vaccine, the first to be approved, the Oxford vaccine does not need to be stored at ultra-low temperatures and is much easier to move, making it easier to use in care homes and to vaccinate the housebound.

The rollout comes after the vaccine was approved for use outside of hospitals by the four Chief Medical Officers and NHS England’s Medical Director, Professor Stephen Powis.

Care home residents cannot travel to hospital for a jab and Pfizer is difficult to get to hospitals so the decision will speed up the drive to vaccinate them.

Care home residents and staff were set as the highest priority group by the independent Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation.

In addition to the Oxford jab, local vaccination services are being issued with small packs of Pfizer jabs which can be used in care homes.

When the vaccine was first issued it had to be shipped in “pizza boxes” containing almost 1,000 doses, meaning that care homes could not be jabbed without wasting supplies.

The NHS is offering GP services an extra £10 for every care home resident vaccinated in January in a drive to get a majority vaccinated before the end of the month.

More than one million people have already been vaccinated by the NHS in less than one month since Maggie Keenan received the Pfizer vaccine in December.

The NHS was the first health service in the world to deliver a Covid-19 vaccination outside of the clinical trial.

The NHS was also the first to deliver the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine, jabbing Brian Pinker, 82, at Oxford University Hospital on Monday.

Current and former NHS staff have applied to become vaccinators, with tens of thousands having already completed their online training. They will be deployed as more vaccine supplies become available.

Currently, vaccines are being administered at Peterborough City Hospital, which has been chosen as a Covid vaccination hub. They are also being given out in selected GP practices in Peterborough and the surrounding areas.

The news that both jabs are now available was confirmed on the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Clinical Commissioning Group website.

The vaccine is being rolled out to priority groups first and these include people aged 80 and over, frontline health care workers and people with underlying health conditions.

Residents have been urged to wait to be contacted rather than phone up their local surgery or the hospital to enquire about getting a vaccine.

A statement on the CCG website said: “The NHS is well-used to delivering millions of vaccines a year, and is moving quickly to roll out this vaccine to those who need it, but it’s important that we remember this will be a marathon, not a sprint.

“The large increase in cases hospitals are seeing and the emergence of a new variant of the virus shows that we cannot let our guard down now.

“NHS staff are doing an incredible job to deliver what is the largest vaccination programme in our history, at the same time as continuing to be there for everyone who needs care.

“The public have an important part to play to help them do this: please don’t contact the NHS to seek a vaccine, we will contact you and when we do contact you please attend your booked appointments and please continue to follow all the guidance to control the virus and save lives.”

Dr Nikki Kanani, GP and NHS medical director for primary care, said: “The biggest vaccination programme in NHS history is already off to a strong start with around one million people already vaccinated against Coronavirus – this is a credit to our exceptional NHS staff.

“GPs, nurses, pharmacists and countless other staff and volunteers have been working around the clock to be able to launch almost 200 more sites this week.

“Combined with the arrival of the Oxford / AstraZeneca vaccine, we will now be able to protect many more vulnerable people against the virus and faster.”

Health Secretary Matt Hancock added: “Every part of the government and the NHS are working around the clock to rapidly scale up our Covid-19 vaccination programme so we can protect those most at risk from this awful disease as quickly as possible.

“The Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine can be transported easily and I’m delighted care home residents will begin receiving their first Oxford/AstraZeneca jabs this week. More than 1.3 million people have already been vaccinated in the UK, including 23 percent - or over 650,000 - of the over-80s in England

“We are aiming to offer vaccinations to the majority of care home residents by the end of January and all 13 million people in the top four priority cohorts by mid-February. This will ensure the most vulnerable are protected and will save tens of thousands of lives.

“As our vaccination programme ramps up, I urge everybody to continue following the latest restrictions to keep cases low and protect loved ones.”

To find out more about the vaccine rollout from the CCG, click here.

The CCG website said current vaccination sites in the region area:

- Peterborough City Hospital

- Addenbrooke’s Hospital

- Ely South and Ely North Primary Care Networks – with practices in Ely, Soham, Haddenham, Burwell and Littleport

- Wisbech PCN – covering the following practices: Clarkson Surgery, North Brink Practice, Parsons Drive Surgery and Trinity Surgery

- South Peterborough – covering the following practices: Oundle Medical Practice, New Queen Street & Stanground Surgeries, and Yaxley

It added: “We are working hard to open additional vaccination sites across the region over the coming days and weeks to expand the number of vaccination sites and vaccination appointments we have available.”