NHS staff who have been working to vaccinate NHS and Health and Social Care workers against COVID-19 are now getting ready to open their doors to the public.
From today (Monday), the St. Mary’s Hospital Vaccination Hub will be welcoming people aged 18 and over for their 1st, 2nd and booster COVID-19 vaccines.
The hub will join the network of local vaccination centres and clinics that are already in operation across Hampshire and the Isle of Wight.
Members of the public can book an appointment through the national booking system. Vaccination clinics at St. Mary’s Hospital, which will be for the Pfizer vaccine only, will take place 5 days a week, Sunday to Thursday.
Kay Marriott, Clinical Lead for the Vaccination Hub is pleased to be supporting the wider Covid vaccination programme and looking forward to welcoming the members of the community to St. Mary’s for their vaccinations.
Kay said:
“We are incredibly proud to have been asked to support the delivery of the COVID-19 vaccination programme across the Island.
“Today, 7 January, is our one-year anniversary of opening the hospital vaccination hub to protect NHS staff and essential key workers.
Article continues below this advertisement “We are now delighted to be able to open our doors to the public and join the Riverside Centre and GP-led clinics in offering COVID-19 vaccinations.
“The centre at St. Mary’s Hospital will mean that there are more opportunities for people to be able to get vaccinated which is really good news.”
Dr Matt Nisbet, GP and Clinical Lead of the Hampshire and Isle of Wight COVID-19 Vaccination Programme, said:
“Health and care teams across Hampshire and Isle of Wight have done an amazing job in expanding vaccination capacity in recent weeks to meet the challenge of the Omicron variant.
“Now it’s your turn to do your bit to protect yourself and others by attending a walk-in or booking an appointment to get your jab.
“Please don’t put this off – the sooner you get a booster, the sooner you’ll increase your protection against the virus.”
The Vaccination Hub at St. Mary’s Hospital has been offering COVID-19 vaccinations to NHS health and care staff since it opened in January 2021.
12months on and the hub has given over 25,000 vaccinations to essential key workers as well as running the NHS staff flu vaccination programme.
The NHS COVID-19 vaccination programme has accelerated in response to the potential threat from the new Omicron variant and is offering vaccinations for people aged 12 years old and over.
To book an appointment for a COVID-19 vaccination visit the National Booking System website or call 119.
Any increase in the availability of vaccination services is to be welcomed so this is great news (even if it is practically next door to Riverside).
Unfortunately, all the hard work done by the dedicated vaccination staff is being let down by poor communications.
Why do we still need to rely on word of mouth, guesswork and waiting for vaccination call from your GP that may never come?
Why, when other areas have dozens of vaccination sites on the national booking system do we still only have two?
Surely a single point of information is needed to help people access the service?
I can only give an opinion based on personal experience but for me it worked flawlessly. For the 1st, 2nd and booster jabs I got a text from my GP and booked appointments online with no problem whatsoever. At the time I had my booster they were doing walk-in boosters too with no booking necessary. Yes, there was a queue but I guess that’s to be expected if you don’t book. Maybe some GP’s aren’t as efficient with the texting etc but I can’t really fault my own experience. There was no relying on word of mouth, guesswork (don’t know how that works anyway?) or anything. Just a message each time and going online to book an appointment.
You are lucky. Whichever GP surgery you are with, they are obviously on the ball. Sandown the Bay, text?? No. I had arrange my own booster at a time when it was hit and miss. You had to be quick or you missed out.
Why do we need another centre almost next door to Riverside, it has the capacity to deal with the remaining vaccinations and is open 8am to 8pm 7 days a week.