NHS Lothian has advised us that they have now vaccinated frontline workers, care home staff and residents and people over the age of 80.
The health board says it is on track to vaccinate around 80,000 people in Lothian by the end of January as part of the first wave of the vaccination programme.
Since the first Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine was first approved in December, closely followed by the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine, health board teams have been working to protect as many people as possible by providing a first dose.
A total of around 40,000 frontline health and social care staff across Lothian will have been given the vaccine by the end of next week.
By this weekend, residents and staff in 100 of Lothian’s 110 care homes will also have been vaccinated, which amounts to around a further 6,967 people.
A total of 38,300 doses of the vaccine have also been sent directly from the manufacturer to GP practices all over Lothian so that patients over the age of 80 can be vaccinated. This programme began two weeks ago and will continue until the first week in February.
David Small, Director of Primary Care Transformation, and Executive Lead for the Vaccination Programme, said the first wave of the programme had helped to provide protection to thousands of people. He said: “This is the biggest vaccination programme that health boards have ever undertaken.
“Our teams have made amazing efforts to ensure that, by the end of January around 80,000 people who are most at risk of the virus have been given the first round of protection.
“We have made sure that frontline staff who are carrying out patient-facing and lifesaving roles every day have been given their first dose. We have also provided protection to residents and staff in care homes, as well as people over the age of 80 by ensuring they receive their first dose.
“The teams have done all of this while planning the next phase of the programme and creating mass vaccination sites for future waves – the second of which will be underway shortly.”
The second wave of the vaccination programme begins on 1 February.
As part of that, people aged between 75-79 and those most clinically vulnerable will be given appointments to be vaccinated by their GP, while those aged between 70-74 and 65 to 69 will be invited to mass vaccination sites and smaller community venues for their injections.
NHS Lothian has been working with councils, health and social care partnerships and other partners to ensure the sites are ready when the roll-out begins.
The first mass vaccination centre to go live in Lothian will be the Edinburgh International Conference Centre (EICC) where work is already underway as you can see below. Appointment letters will be sent out centrally to people across Lothian and everyone is urged to attend their appointment when they do receive their letter.
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