COVID vaccination update for Stockport residents

21st December 2020

You will undoubtedly be aware that the COVID vaccine is now being distributed to primary care and hospital sites across the country, in the first wave of the mass COVID vaccination programme and this is very good news for our population.

We will not however be able to vaccinate everyone all at once – it will be a relatively small number at first due to the difficulties moving the vaccine safely and the logistics of moving large volumes of the vaccine around the country.  GPs and our teams at selected sites have begun to vaccinate people this week, starting with our most vulnerable patients at the first two primary care sites in Stockport this weekend.  The remaining five clinical sites across Stockport will go live from 4^th and 11^th January.

Each site must undergo rigorous checks, have the required equipment and have trained and experienced staff available for these mass vaccination clinics.  This must be done under strict infection control, health and safety and social distancing arrangements to ensure that all staff and patients attending the sites are not put at risk. Stockport Clinical Commissioning Group is supporting NHS England by helping with the local arrangements.

There are a number of logistical challenges which we are working our way through but general practice has an excellent track record of delivering mass vaccination programmes, and we want to use this experience to help protect people from Covid-19 and start getting life back to normal again.

All practices will start vaccinating once delivery of the vaccine has been confirmed, all the necessary safety checks have been completed, staff have been trained and all appropriate equipment is in place.  Surgeries will then have demonstrated they meet the updated guidance and safety standards, with hundreds ready to vaccinate over the coming weeks thanks to the hard work of GPs, nurses, pharmacists and other primary care staff. Patients will be invited for the vaccine as per the cohorts as advised by NHS England. The start dates of vaccination are as agreed between NHSE and the Primary Care Network.

We are aware that patients are anxious and will want to be vaccinated at the earliest opportunity but we must do this in a safe and measured way, and this is why we are asking patients to wait until they are called with an appointment.

The NHSE National Team are working on how to deliver the vaccine safely to care homes across Stockport.  As soon as the logistics of safe delivery to care homes has been finalised the roll out of the vaccine in care homes will also begin and we expect that to start in January.