Covid-19 vaccine roll out continues at pace in city

The roll out of the Covid-19 vaccination is continuing in Wolverhampton, with seven sites now lined up in the city to deliver the life-saving jab.

They include the Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust's New Cross Hospital and six primary care sites, each of which is linked to local GPs. These are Wood Road Surgery in Wolverhampton, Mayfield Medical Practice’s Bushbury branch, Woodcross Medical Centre, Keats Grove Surgery, Alfred Squire Road Health Centre and Whitmore Reans Health Centre. A mass vaccination site has also opened at Millennium Point in Birmingham.

Those most at risk – people aged 80 and over, care home residents and staff and health and social care workers – are being offered the vaccination first, and it will be rolled out to other groups in order of age and risk over the coming weeks and months.

Vaccinations for residents and staff in local care homes have also begun and are expected to be completed soon.

For details of the priority list, visit www.gov.uk/coronavirus. The NHS will contact people when it is their turn to book their vaccine, people should not contact their GP or pharmacy.

Councillor Jasbir Jaspal, the City of Wolverhampton Council's Cabinet Member for Public Health and Wellbeing, said: "Thousands of people in Wolverhampton are still contracting Covid-19 every week, and the vaccine is the fastest way in which we are going to get out of this pandemic.
“So, as soon as you are contacted to have your jab, please make sure you get it – because the quicker people are protected, the quicker we can get back to normal.

"In the meantime, it's incredibly important that people continue to do everything they can to stop the spread of the virus. This means continuing to follow the Hands, Face, Space guidance and adhering to the new lockdown restrictions which are now in place.”

Dr Salma Reehana, Clinical Chair, Wolverhampton Clinical Commissioning Group, added: "The roll out is well underway and our GPs are moving through the lists and will be in touch. If you have had a letter from the NHS, please don’t call your GP; you can either wait for your GP to contact you about getting an appointment at a local centre, or use the details in the letter to book your jab at one of the larger vaccination centres."

Latest figures show there were 830.9 cases of Covid-19 per 100,000 people in Wolverhampton over the seven days to 12 January. That means 2,185 people in the city tested positive for the virus in that seven day period – though the true number of new cases will likely be considerably higher.

The latest information and guidance around coronavirus is available at www.gov.uk/coronavirusand on the council’s own coronavirus pages at www.wolverhampton.gov.uk/coronavirus. Further details of the lockdown restrictions currently in place, and the answers to frequently asked questions, are available at www.wolverhampton.gov.uk/covidalert.

Anyone with symptoms of Covid-19, which include a fever, a new continuous cough or a change to the sense of taste or smell, must immediately self-isolate and book a PCR test by visiting www.gov.uk/get-coronavirus-test or calling 119.