Snettisham Surgery named as one of the Covid vaccination sites

NHS vaccinates nearly 40% of Norfolk and Waveney’s most vulnerable patients against COVID-19

Almost 40% of all people over the age of 80 living in Norfolk and Waveney have received their first vaccination against COVID-19.

It comes as the number of people vaccinated in the area approaches 30,000.

In Norfolk and Waveney, out of a population of 65,000 over 80s - the most vulnerable age group – some 25,500 people have had the life-saving jab.

The NHS is driving forward the vaccination of the rest of the over 80s and other most at risk groups still to be vaccinated. Two further GP-led vaccination sites, Bowthorpe Medical Practice, Norwich and The Park Surgery, Great Yarmouth begin vaccinating this week.

They will be joined next week by 10 more sites in community buildings and GP premises, which will be begin delivering the new AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine alongside the Pfizer jab.

This will mean there will be 21 local vaccination sites in Norfolk and Waveney, in addition to the James Paget University Hospital, Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital and Queen Elizabeth Hospital King’s Lynn.

These sites will be:

• Drayton Medical Practice
• Sheringham Medical Practice
• The Market Surgery, Aylsham
• Sole Bay Health Centre, Southwold
• Manor Farm Medical Centre, Swaffham
• Poringland Community Centre, South Norfolk
• Gurney Surgery, Norwich
• Hoveton Village Hall, North Norfolk
• Rossis Leisure, North Walsham
• Snettisham Surgery

Dr Anoop Dhesi, Chair of NHS Norfolk and Waveney Clinical Commissioning Group(CCG,) which is co-ordinating the roll-out of the vaccination programme, said:

“We’ve made a great start beginning to protect the most vulnerable people. That’s testament to the immense effort made by doctors, nurses and administrators in General Practice, staff in our hospitals and in the clinical commissioning group. But truly this is going to be a marathon not a sprint.

“More GP-led sites are about to open, and these will be followed by more large vaccination centres to drive up the numbers we can vaccinate every day into the many thousands, with a spread of sites reaching into every corner of Norfolk and Waveney.”

The NHS has worked with district and county councils across Norfolk and Waveney, along with voluntary groups, private businesses and the police, to set-up and run the vaccination sites in what has been a real shared endeavour. The NHS would like to thank everyone who has offered sites for the vaccination programme; no further sites are currently needed.

The licencing of the “fridge-friendly” AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine which can be stored at normal fridge temperatures will make delivering the vaccine easier. The Pfizer jab which has been licenced since early December must be stored at -70 degree centigrade.

This has hampered efforts to vaccinate residents of care homes – although the residents of a handful of care in Norfolk and Waveney have already been vaccinated as part of a pilot scheme.

The AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine will allow a step-change in the NHS' ability to take vaccine into care homes.

Our hospitals in Norfolk and Waveney are under immense pressure with more COVID-19 positive patients in beds that at any point since the outbreak of the diseases last year.

Until the vaccine has reached most of the vulnerable groups our best protection for ourselves, family, community and the NHS, is to wear a face covering, keep our distance and regularly wash our hands.