Newcastle 53,000 jabs short in race to hit government’s new booster target by December
Newcastle’s current capacity to deliver Covid booster vaccinations is more than 50,000 jabs short of the government’s new accelerated target.
Boris Johnson announced on 12 December, hopes for every eligible adult would have received their booster by the end of December.
In Newcastle, this would mean delivering approximately 97,000 third jabs in less than threeweeks.
When the Prime Minister revealed the speeding-up of the booster rollout at the weekend, Newcastle's health services had capacity to administer just 20,000 jabs in what remains of 2021.
Since then Newcastle’s health chiefs have doubled this number to 45,000 in order to meet the huge demand for jab appointments and walk-in clinics. But that capacity will need to more than double again, if the city is to give all eligible over-18s the chance to get a booster before the New Year.
On top of "finding the staff and volunteers needed to extend opening hours and vaccine appointments", Newcastle's Public Health Director Professor Eugene Milne warned that the supply of doses will probably need to "at least triple".
He said: “I am told by regional colleagues that that is doable. But the thing that probably bothers me most is making sure we have all those things in the right place at the right time and can get people to them.
"There is also the commencement of second doses for the 12 to 15s, which essentially for us will be a post-Christmas programme but one for which planning has to start now."
Although Newcastle has consistently had the lowest Covid vaccination rate of anywhere in the North East, long queues reported outside vaccination sites including the Grainger Market and the Centre for Life in recent days as the under-40s have flocked to get a third dose that will help protect them from Omicron.
These images were taken by ITV Tyne Tees outside Newcastle City Hall on Wednesday 15 December, showing 'hundreds' of people waiting for the opportunity to receive a jab.
The chief officer of Newcastle Gateshead Clinical Commissioning Group confirmed that two military planners are working with the CCG to help organise its vaccine efforts across GP practices, pharmacies, and vaccination sites in Lemington, Benwell, Byker, Newcastle Racecourse and the Newcastle Eagles' stadium.
It comes as a record 78,610 lab-confirmed Covid-19 cases have been reported in one day in the UK, the highest daily total since the pandemic began.
The strain is presenting "probably the most significant threat" of the pandemic so far, according to head of the UK Health Security Agency Dr Jenny Harries, and it could place the NHS in "serious peril".
The Chief Medical Officer said people eager to spend Christmas with family should "do only what you need to" so they can avoid getting Covid and self-isolation.
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Elsewhere in the region, local GPs and healthcare professionals have begun enrolling participants across North East and North Cumbria to a first-of-its-kind clinical trial investigating the effectiveness of new oral antiviral treatments for Covid-19, which can be safely taken at home.
It is hoped the treatments could help clinically vulnerable people with Covid-19 recover sooner, prevent the need for hospital admission and ease the burden on the NHS.
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