Due to the sub-zero temperatures across the UK, the Kingswood Health Centre was forced to apologise after some elderly patients were forced to wait for over an hour before being vaccinated. In one picture, an elderly woman waiting outside the centre collapsed. She was later taken to get medical help although the centre stated it had managed to administer the majority of the vaccinations.
The health care centre revealed it had been given short notice to deliver the clinic.
Due to this, they stated they had been short-staffed and were unable to vaccinate the patients any quicker.
In a statement on the centre’s Facebook page, the surgery said: “Unfortunately in the morning we experienced long queues for patients waiting to come in.
“Every single room in the health centre was being used to vaccinate and we were unable to move patients through any quicker.
“Social distancing meant we couldn’t keep more people waiting inside the building.
“We apologise if people had to wait a long time in the morning.
“As with all new things, we will review our model and look to improve it.
“This is new to all of us and we are doing our absolute best to vaccinate as many patients as we can and not waste any vaccine.”
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“This is a pivotal moment in our fight against this awful virus and I hope it provides renewed hope to everybody that the end of this pandemic is in sight.
“Through its vaccine delivery plan the NHS is doing everything it can to vaccinate those most at risk as quickly as possible and we will rapidly accelerate our vaccination programme.
“While the most vulnerable are immunised, I urge everybody to continue following the restrictions so we can keep cases down and protect our loved ones.”
The drug, like Pfizer’s, will be given to priority groups including care home residents and staff, people over 80 and health and care workers, then to the rest of the population in order of age and risk.
As of NHS England’s vaccination figures, a total of 786,000 people have now been vaccinated since December 8.
Both drugs will need to be given in two doses, usually three weeks apart.
However, due to the rising case levels, a second dose will now be given within 12 weeks as opposed to three in order to increase immunisation across the country.
As of today, 58,784 cases were reported in the last 24 hours taking the total to 2,713,563.
