A new Covid-19 vaccination centre has opened on Monday morning (Feb 1) at the unused Avanti Meadows Primary School.
The school at St Michael’s Hurst should have opened last September, but because of the pandemic its first pupils will not take their places until autumn term this year.
In the meantime, Hertfordshire Community NHS Trust (HCT) is using the building in the battle against coronavirus.
Hertfordshire residents aged 75 and over are among those being invited to book vaccinations at the school and at a second site at Roche Pharmaceuticals’ base in Welwyn Garden City due to open later in the week. Vaccinations for priority groups are also available at Harlow Leisurezone.
HCT chief executive Elliot Howard-Jones said: “Everyone at HCT and in our partner organisations has been working very hard in the lead-up to opening these centres this week.
“We can now welcome local people in the prioritised age groups with confirmed appointments to receive their vaccine, along with health and social care workers from across our area.
“This represents a big step forward in helping to beat the Covid-19 pandemic. My sincere thanks go to our project team and our school-age immunisation team, who are working around the clock to deliver this programme.”
As well as the vaccination centres and pharmacy vaccination services, there are now more than 1,000 GP services and over 250 hospital sites offering vaccinations in England, including a well-established operation at Bishop’s Stortford Football Club. This is run by Stort Valley and Villages Primary Care Network, which represents Church Street, South Street and Parsonage surgeries in Bishop’s Stortford, the Bell Street practice in Sawbridgeworth and Much Hadham Health Centre. People should attend for vaccination only if they have booked an appointment.
Last week, the Stort Valley PCN said that 97% of patients aged over 80 in the Stortford area had received their first Covid-19 vaccine doses and that it had administered 5,368 doses in all.
Rapid coronavirus testing for people with no symptoms began in Bishop’s Stortford on Sunday (Jan 31) with a pop-up site at Thorley Community Centre, Thorley Park. One in three people with Covid-19 are asymptomatic and the lateral flow tests are primarily aimed at key and essential workers.
Testing will next be available in Bishop’s Stortford on Friday (Feb 5) at Herts and Essex High School’s sports centre in Beldams Lane.
A base will then be set up in the Causeway car park on Friday February 12 before testing teams return to the sports centre on Monday February 15.
Full details of who is eligible, sites and how to book are available at https://www.hertfordshire.gov.uk/about-the-council/news/coronavirus-tests.aspx.
Anyone with coronavirus symptoms – a high temperature, a new continuous cough or a loss of or change to sense of smell or taste – must order a test kit or book a test at a drive-through testing centre.
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