Related Articles
Hull and the East Riding’s hospitals will receive their first batch of coronavirus vaccines “in the next few days”.
The trust that runs Hull Royal Infirmary and Castle Hill Hospital had been named as one of 50 hubs across the UK that would help with the rollout and it has since been announced that it will begin imminently.
The Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust expect to begin its vaccination programme “over the coming weeks” with frontline NHS staff, care home workers and the elderly all set to benefit from the first wave of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.
Nationally, 800,000 doses are expected to be delivered to the UK in the coming days meaning 400,000 can be immunised during the first rollout – each person must have two jabs.
To get the Hull Live headlines every day, simply pop your email address into the sign-up box just beneath the picture at the top of this article.
The vaccine has been labelled “historic” and is the centre of the largest vaccination programme in history.
Confirming the involvement of the trust in East Yorkshire, a spokeswoman for Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust said: “We are proud to confirm that our trust is one of the 50 hospital hubs in the country to deliver the vaccines to protect people against Covid-19.
“We expect to receive our supply of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine in the next few days and will begin our programme to vaccine the over 80s, care home staff and frontline NHS workers over the coming weeks.”
It comes after Health Secretary Matt Hancock outlined the first groups of people to be targeted for immunisation.
“This coming week will be an historic moment as we begin vaccination against Covid-19,” he said.
“We are prioritising the most vulnerable first, and over-80s, care home staff and NHS colleagues will all be among the first to receive the vaccines.
“We are doing everything we can to make sure we can overcome significant challenges to vaccinate care home residents as soon as possible too.
“I urge everybody to play their part to suppress this virus and follow the local restrictions to protect the NHS while they carry out this crucial work.”
However, there is some concern that care home residents may have to wait before getting the jab.
Logistical issues mean there are difficulties in getting the jab to residents, as the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine needs to be stored at minus 70C before being thawed out and can only be moved four times within that cold chain before being used.
NHS England said NHS staff were working through the weekend to prepare for the launch of the programme with the first vaccinations happening from Tuesday.
