Burford Surgery has announced that Covid vaccination for vulnerable patients are scheduled to start on Friday 15 January. The following announcement appears on their website:
There is good news from the surgery - the Covid vaccine roll out is scheduled to start on the Friday 15th January at Carterton Health Centre for our first cohort of very vulnerable adults. From then onwards the programme will continue with each batch of vaccines we receive - both Pfizer and the Oxford vaccine (for nursing home and housebound patients only). We agree with the decision to ensure as many patients are given a primary vaccine ASAP and gain initial protection, hence the second vaccine maybe given at up to 12 weeks later, rather than 21 days as previously thought. The initial dose is thought to offer good protection, but that the second dose prolongs this protection.
Please DO NOT ring the surgery and ask about your vaccine - you will be contacted when your turn is due, and it needlessly clogs up our phone lines at an already busy time.
We will have to free up staff for several months, every week, to assist the vaccination programme but this will mean that more day-to-day issues will take longer to deal with. There is no 'bank' of spare staff to roll out this vaccine, each of which requires a 3 step process, (drawing up, administering and monitoring) as well as teams to coordinate car parking and social distancing whilst waiting.
For now it remains vital that rules regarding the wearing of masks, social distancing , and non-gathering are adhered to. The new variant is not more dangerous, and will respond to the vaccine, but it IS MORE EASILY SPREAD.. We won't be able to administer the vaccine if our staff are self-isolating because of contact with the virus, whether at the surgery, the shops or out and about so PLEASE KEEP YOURSELF AND EVERYONE SAFE.
https://www.burfordsurgery.co.uk