Royal Surrey one of 50 hospital hubs for Covid-19 vaccination programme | News

The NHS will begin vaccinating patients against coronavirus at dozens of hospital hubs from this week at the start of the biggest immunisation programme in history. 

People aged 80 and over as well as care home workers will be first to receive the jab at Royal Surrey, along with NHS workers who are at higher risk. 

Staff will contact patients to invite them in for appointments and offer the vaccine. Please do not contact, or visit, the hospital to seek a vaccine before then. 

Staff at Royal Surrey worked throughout the weekend to prepare for the launch of the programme with the first vaccinations happening from Tuesday. 

There are 50 hubs in the first wave and more hospitals will start vaccinating over the coming weeks and months as the programme ramps up. 

GPs and other primary care staff are also being put on standby to start delivering the jab. A small number of GP-led primary care networks will begin doing so during the following week (week beginning 14 December) with more practices in more parts of the country joining in on a phased basis during December and in the coming months. 

Patients aged 80 and above who are already attending hospital as an outpatient will be among the first to receive the life-saving jab. Hospitals will also work with care home providers to book their staff in to vaccination clinics. 

Furthermore, other vaccination centres treating large numbers of patients in sporting venues and conference centres will subsequently begin when further supplies of vaccine come on stream. 

Royal Surrey NHS Foundation Trust, Chief Nurse, Jo Mountjoy, said: 

‘We are proud to be among the first Trusts to administer the Covid vaccination. This is a moment of real hope for our community - we look forward to working with our local partners on this important programme and we thank our staff for their ongoing hard work and dedication throughout this pandemic.’ 

Professor Stephen Powis, NHS national medical director, said: “Despite the huge complexities, hospitals will kickstart the first phase of the largest scale vaccination campaign in our country’s history from Tuesday. The first tranche of vaccine deliveries will be landing at hospitals by Monday in readiness. 

“The NHS has a strong record of delivering large scale vaccination programmes – from the flu jab, HPV vaccine and lifesaving MMR jabs – hardworking staff will once again rise to the challenge to protect the most vulnerable people from this awful disease.” 

Ruth Hutchinson, Director of Public Health for Surrey: 

"This is momentous news for Surrey and means that we'll be able to start protecting the most vulnerable members of our community from Covid-19. But it's important for people to remember that Surrey's infection rates tell us that we have continued community spread of the virus. So, for now, we must all continue to follow the guidelines and play our part to keep Surrey safe." 

Dr Claire Fuller, GP and Senior Responsible Officer for Surrey Heartlands [Health and Care Partnership] said: 

“I’d like to add my thanks to staff across the Surrey Heartlands system who have been working round the clock to ensure we can start this vital vaccination programme for local residents.” 

The life-saving vaccine is typically delivered by a simple injection in the shoulder but there is a complex and difficult logistical challenge to deliver from the manufacturers Pfizer to patients. 

It needs to be stored at -70C before being thawed out and can only be moved four times within that cold chain before being used.