Three covid vaccine centres announced for South Tyneside as teams prepare to roll out vaccination jabs

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Health bosses for South Tyneside have revealed more details of coronavirus vaccine plans.

At least three locations have now been agreed where families will be able to receive jabs, once they become available.

But care chiefs have warned there is still no ‘quick fix’ for the pandemic, with coverage for the most vulnerable expected to take months.

“Clearly [vaccination] will be a really important part of our short and medium term response to COVID-19,” said Tom Hall, director of public health at South Tyneside Council.

Flagg Court Primary Care Centre is among the three vaccination centres announced for South Tyneside.

“We know it won’t be a quick fix because of the sheer logistics around it and the time it takes to see transmission reduce as a result, but it will be an important part of the picture, going forward."

He added: “We know our three primary care networks in South Tyneside are signed up to deliver the vaccine, as is our hospital trust – we’re in as good a position as we can be.

“Our three primary care networks have identified the sites they’re going to deliver the vaccine from.”

Hall was speaking at a meeting of the council’s ruling cabinet, its ninth since the outbreak started to be held by videolink and broadcast via YouTube.

A stock image as teams in South Tyneside prepare to roll-out the coronarivus vaccine.

According to the borough’s public health boss, vaccines are due to be rolled out from:

:: The Glen Medical Group, in Glen Street, Hebburn

:: Cleadon Park Primary Care Centre, in South Shields

:: Flagg Court Primary Care Centre, in South Shields

South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust (STSFT), which runs South Tyneside District Hospital and Sunderland Royal Hospital, is also likely to be involved in the vaccine programme.

The UK became the first country to approve a COVID-19 vaccine when the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) gave the green light to the treatment developed by pharmaceuticals giant Pfizer and German firm BioNTech.

Hall added he expected to see this jab prioritised for NHS workers, due to difficulties related to the way it must be stored and transported, with alternatives primed for wider rollout.

He said: “A priority list that has been published by the national group overseeing the introduction of the vaccine programme, which highlights we will be starting with more vulnerable populations.

“It will then start to work down the age categories until the majority of the over-60 population is covered, then they will start to work down the younger age groups.

“But I can’t say what that will look like in the borough, or which vaccine we will end up rolling out first because there are multiple candidates.”

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