Five more vaccination sites revealed for Lincolnshire residents

So far eight vaccination centres and hospital hubs have been named in the county for the roll out of the Covid-19 vaccines, along with mobile teams from GP networks care homes.

But there were calls to rapidly fill in gaps in provision covering towns such as Sleaford, Spalding, Wragby and Tattershall to save people from having to travel too far to get their jab.

The Standard and fellow JPI Media titles have called for pharmacies to be allowed to administer the jabs too, to assist with Health Secretary Matt Hancock’s pledge to have vaccines available within 10 miles by the end of January.

Lincolnshire Clinical Commissioning Group, which represents the county’s GP networks, said the covid vaccination process had got off to a “great start”, being among the first in the country to start vaccinating on December 8 through the first hospital hub at Lincoln County Hospital. They were amongst the first to start vaccinating through their GP led primary care network model, with eight centres already in operation last week at Louth Community Hospital, Meres Leisure Centre, Grantham, Waddington Branch Surgery, St Marys Medical Practice, Stamford, Franklin Hall, Spilsby, Sidings Medical Practice, Boston, Rustons Sports and Social Club, Lincoln and Portland Medical Practice, Lincoln.

A hospital hub at Pilgrim Hospital in Boston is also issuing the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine.

The CCG has now announced that, by the end of this week, five more local vaccination centres will go live.

In a statement this afternoon, they said: “Patients in these areas are being contacted to organise their vaccination appointments. The NHS will contact people and local people are asked not to contact the NHS.”

The additional sites are:

* The Storehouse, Skegness

* Lincolnshire Showground, Lincoln

* Springfields, Spalding

* John Coupland Hospital, Gainsborough

* Marisco Medical Practice, Mablethorpe

The CCG added: “The launch of these further five sites is a significant milestone for Lincolnshire. The next steps for the county’s NHS is to roll out the programme further through two large vaccination sites and a roving service across the county. The NHS will continue to keep the public updated as these further sites and vaccination services become available.

“The vaccination services in Lincolnshire, as in the rest of the country, are focused on delivering the vaccines to the key priority groups (residents in a care home for older adults and their carers, those aged 70 and over, frontline health and social care workers and the clinically extremely vulnerable) to ensure that we are able to meet the targets set by the government.”

More than 2.4million people nationally have received their first dose of vaccination so far, according to the government’s latest data.

However, health bosses leading the response to COVID-19 in Lincolnshire still do not have local data, nor are they able to confirm where the next vaccination centres will be.

Professor Derek Ward said he had been asking local NHS bosses who could not share the data.

“It’s just they have been told they are not allowed to by NHS England nationally… [the] diktat is that they are not allowed to share the data, including with the Director of Public Health which is nonsensical. It’s absolutely nonsensical.

“We have pushed back very, very strongly as directors of public health and had lots of conversations over the weekend, so I’m hoping the position will change.”

Professor Ward has been supported by councillors across Lincolnshire desperate to find out when their areas will receive vaccine centres.