AstraZenica vaccine - approved

Vaccination

As you will have seen on the news, the AstraZenica vaccine has been approved for use in the UK. This has allowed for several aspects of the mass vaccination program to be moved ahead, including moving on to the next stage of the priority list for vaccinations including healthcare workers.

As of 30th December 2020, approval has been given for acute sites and community and ambulance-based services to begin to vaccinate healthcare workers utilising both the Pfzier vaccine and, once available for delivery, the AstraZenica (AZ) vaccine.

EEAST will continue to utilise the acute, PCN and CCG provided routes for our staff to access a vaccine as it does allow some geographical and logistical benefits but will also now embark on an in-house vaccination program to utilise the AZ vaccine throughout the region.

The acute trusts will shortly be in touch with how to book in for the vaccine and this will be published and updated on the Need to Know Vaccination Home Page

The AZ program we will be running in-house will be a scaled approach balancing availability of the vaccine (knowing it is going to be under high demand Nationally) and ability to put on vaccine clinics throughout the region utilising our own vaccination-trained staff as well as others that may be able to help. More details on this will follow and will be dependent on local lateral flow and COVID leads to coordinate this.

Booking in for the regional clinics will be via Evolve so please makes sure you have your login details to hand. For non-EEAST staff that are eligible, e.g. co-responders, students; a call centre number or centrally coordinated email address will be available to book a slot.

You will also need to know your NHS number. It is important to know your NHS number as this will help with ensuring your vaccination record is uploaded to your GP records either via the acute site or via CallEEAST but also speed up the booking and vaccination record data entry.

For those that have completed the ‘Site selection online forms’, this will not impact on that choice and you will have the ability to choose where to have a vaccine, either in house once available, or via your local acute, CCG or PCN Trust.

All staff will still be asked to complete the online vaccination form once they have had their first vaccination, regardless of which one and where this is done.

Exact details are still being finalised and we will get the details to you as soon as possible.

 

Published 4th January 2021