As residents of Bradwell North carry on through this tough time of lockdown restrictions, the light at the end of the tunnel is now starting to get brighter and brighter, as nationally and locally, the Covid-19 vaccine programme is steam rolling ahead.
Since last Sunday, 91% of our over 80s had been vaccinated, compared to 88% nationally. In that week alone, the NHS had given a further 50,200 doses (across all ages and cohorts).
Due to this fantastic effort by the local NHS , and all the volunteers that have assisted in the programme, this makes Norfolk and Waveney the top performing health system in the East of England region in terms of percentage of over 80s vaccinated and percentage of total adult population vaccinated to date. This is despite having the second highest proportion of over 80s in the country (8.4% compared to the national average of 6.2%.).
The vaccination of health and social care staff is also rapidly increasing. Currently, the local health authorities are working hard to identify, contact and vaccinate the social care workforce. there is a great team effort being made to achieve this, for example, librarians from Norfolk County Council have been calling social care providers to make sure that they know how and where to get their staff vaccinated.
Moving ahead locally in Norfolk, the local health authorities have sent an open letter to local people about the vaccine programme. The letter, which is aimed at patients over the age of 50, provides key information, advice and reassurance to patients, relatives and carers.
The letter covers:
- How and when you will get an appointment for your vaccination
- Where you will get your vaccination
- Information about attending appointments
- Information about emails and texts that claim to be from the NHS but are not
- Information about the first and second vaccine doses
For further information, this letter can be found here: https://www.norfolkandwaveneyccg.nhs.uk/covid-19-vaccination-programme/17-coronavirus/226-covid-vaccination-letter
On a national level, the NHS have administered more than 10.5 million vaccines across the UK, which includes 931,204 vaccinations over the last weekend alone - that's 1 in every 60 adults in the whole of the United Kingdom vaccinated in a single weekend.
The Government has also now secured early access to over 400 million total doses of vaccines for 2021 and 2022, including the additional 40 million vaccines doses from Valneva they ordered this week.
This means the UK will have the Oxford-AstraZenca vaccine manufactured in Oxford, Staffordshire and Wrexham; the Novovax vaccine made in Teesside and the Valneva vaccine, subject to approval, produced in Livingston, Scotland – a great example of what we can achieve together as one United Kingdom.
To date, the Governemnt has have invested over £300 million into manufacturing a successful vaccine that has enabled our rapid roll out.
One in five adults in the UK has now received a first dose of the vaccine. Every jab gets us closer to defeating the virus, so please come forward when you are called for the vaccine by the NHS.
As ever, if I can help with any matter, please do email me at [email protected]
