Vaccinations at The Great Yorkshire Showground in Harrogate
'Received reassurance'
We did a review of all our contacts regarding the COVID-19 vaccine, and produced an intelligence briefing which we delivered to the Council’s COVID-19 Response Meeting, which indicated that although the public response is mostly very positive towards the vaccine, there are a few areas of concern.
At this meeting we received reassurance that the vaccination programme is going to plan, and everyone in the first three priority groups (Residents in a care home for older adults and their carers; All those 80 years of age and over and frontline health and social care workers; All those 75 years of age and over) will have had their first dose by mid-February.
We have had a number of calls and messages from members of the public who are confused that the Harrogate vaccination site is not available through the NHS booking system.
We contacted North Yorkshire CCG about this. They informed us that the letters people are receiving are for ‘mass vaccination centres’, which are separate to the local vaccination centres. People invited to a mass vaccination centre are able to book an appointment online or through NHS 111.
'Appointments come at short notice'
If you do not want to, or cannot, travel to a mass vaccination centre, you will be contacted by your GP practice at a later point inviting you to the local vaccination site.
The local vaccination sites are being coordinated by the Primary Care Networks. GP practices pass on patient lists to the Primary Care Networks to then allocate appointments.
Appointments for local vaccination sites come at short notice. There are strict criteria that determine the number of appointments that can be made: capacity of venue; traffic; observation area. Furthermore, sites may not know their allocation of vaccines more than a week in advance.
When you have an appointment for a local site, you may be contacted by phone or SMS. If you cannot make an appointment for whatever reason, you will be offered another appointment.
The message from Public Health England continues to be to wait to be contacted. In our follow up with members of the public, we have heard that people have received an invite to their local vaccination site shortly after they contacted us.
People who have had the vaccine need to follow the same guidance as everyone else – ‘hands, face, space’. They should also still be vigilant for any symptoms.
We hope this information provides clarity and comfort during this time which is causing anxiety for many.
Please do continue contacting us. Giving us your feedback enables us to represent the public voice in health and social care across North Yorkshire.
