North Yorkshire Covid-19 vaccine will begin next week from seven centres across the county

The first batch of the Pfizer Covid-19 jab was administered on Tuesday and planning has been taking place as to how the programme will be implemented across England’s largest county.

Local health bosses have now announced that the first vaccines will be given out in North Yorkshire from next week, with more details on where the jabs will be available to be confirmed in the coming days.

Amanda Bloor, NHS North Yorkshire CCG Accountable Officer and chair of the North Yorkshire group of NHS and local government chief executives, told a meeting of the North Yorkshire Local Resilience Forum this morning that preparations were under way.

Fifty hospital trusts nationally were designated as vaccination hubs, with Hull University Teaching Hospital Trust administering its first vaccination today.

Mrs Bloor: “The hospital hubs will be complemented by local vaccination services and these will be provided in GP surgeries and also in community venues provided by local GP practices.

“I do want to share today the great news that we are currently in final planning for seven sites across North Yorkshire and York to start administering the vaccine to people in North Yorkshire York from next week.”

Mrs Bloor said that priority will be given to those over the age of 80, care home workers and front-line NHS staff and the seven sites would be made public in the coming days with more sites becoming available into the new year.

However, she warned the public that they would have to be patient.

She said: “This programme will take place over a number of months, not a number of weeks. This is just the beginning of a methodical programme.”

There was also a call for people to wait to be contacted about the vaccine rather than to try and chase an appointment.

Mrs Bloor added: “The vast majority of vaccinations will take place in 2021 not before Christmas.

“Patients will be contacted with a personal invitation to attend for a vaccine and that should happen over the next few days for some patients in North Yorkshire in line with the national prioritisation criteria.

“Please do not contact your local practice or local hospital to ask for an appointment for a vaccination and please do not turn up at your GP’s or hospital.

“The NHS will proactively contact individuals as part of the vaccine programme and nobody will miss out.

“I understand there will be anxiety in a number of people who are really anxious to get the vaccine as soon as possible but we are putting in place plans to do that as quickly and as safely as we can.”

Until they get the vaccine people were reminded to follow the government guidance around preventing the spread of the virus.

North Yorkshire Police gold commander Michael Walker, who is also chair of the local resilience forum said the county has received relatively few incidents of people from Tier 3 areas coming to North Yorkshire for a night out.

At the weekend, police issued fixed penalties to three people from Cleveland who travelled to Whitby to go to the pub but he added that enforcement was a last resort and police were not stopping vehicles entering the area, despite reports on social media.

“It’s not necessary to make a trip into North Yorkshire just because you want to go to the pub.

He added: “If you come from a higher risk area, there’s a chance you will bring the virus with you.”