3000 extra vaccines administered as part North Tyneside campaign to halt COVID Indian variant spread

Officials on North Tyneside hope that by Saturday night more than 3,000 extra vaccines will have been administered to people who either live or work in North Tyneside over the past 5 days by the mobile units.

These mobile units were brought in after an outbreak of the Indian variant of COVID-19 being detected in the borough.

Saturday is the final day for anyone eligible to walk up and get a vaccine at a surge vaccine site on North Tyneside which is one of the methods used to try and stop the spread of the virus.

The site is based in the Morrisons supermarket car park in Killingworth, with an NHS bus used as a vaccine centre.

North Tyneside Council say anyone who has had their first vaccine should not attend these surge services and are asked to keep their existing second dose appointment.

The current infection rate for North Tyneside is 39 per 100,000, which is down from a peak of 55 earlier in the week.

Mobile test units will be in place in North Tyneside until next week and extra vaccination services will continue to be available as the Borough continues to respond to positive cases of the COVID-19 variant first identified in India.

As of Friday 2,492 walk-up PCR tests have been carried out, while 1,282 PCR test kits have been delivered to properties in parts of North Shields, Wallsend and Whitley Bay.

People who are aged 40 and over and have not yet had their first vaccine, and who live or work in North Tyneside, are being encouraged to either book an appointment via the NHS National Booking Service 119 or online, to use walk-in services, or to attend mobile services.

People aged under 40 are not able to use the mobile service so should book their appointment via the National Booking Service or use walk-in services. This is so they can attend a vaccination service which has vaccine appropriate for their age group.