Relief and thanks as city centre vaccine hub opens
We spoke to clinial staff, volunteers and eager vaccine recipients at the new centre. Here’s how it is going...
Residents have been given a dose of optimism following the opening of a vaccination centre in the city on Friday.
The latest Covid-19 vaccination facility is being run by Sussex Community NHS Foundation Trust (SCFT).
The site opened last Thursday at Westgate Leisure Centre in Chichester.
A number of residents spoke to this newspaper about their excitment at getting their first dose and expressed gratitude for the teams of people who worked to make it happen.
Leader of Chichester District Council, Eileen Lintill said she was ‘very pleased’ to see the site up and running.
She said: “They have worked really hard to get it turned around and operating.
“I can’t thank the doctors, nurses and volunteers for their commitment to this enough – it is a life-saving facility.
“I’m very pleased that we have been able to have regular meeting with the NHS Foundation Trust and they have listened to what we had to say about concerns hence we are here this morning so a huge thank you to all of them for their hard work.”
Residents who had been invited along for their first dose spoke expressed their excitement as they queued for the jab and thanked the teams of clinical staff and volunteers for their work.
Margaret Bird, 67, from Rustington, said: “It’s amazing, I am so excited.
“I’m just so thankful to everybody who has played a part in doing this today,
“I’m most definitely optimistic and I just want to get this jab and then the next one.
“I’m really very pleased this centre is here for us – I can’t wait to see the back of all this.”
Paul Hopper, 69, from Westergate said he was ‘feeling good’ as he queued to receive his jab.
Asked if he was looking forward to getting vaccinated, he said: “Everyone should be. I think we have all had just about enough and could do with some normality.”
Mr Hopper said he had ‘no qualms whatsoever’ in the process of getting the jab.
“It’s wonderful. My wife has already had her jab at St Richard’s and has had no ill effects.”
Duane Wadey has been working as a vaccinator at St Richard’s Hospital and as clinical lead at Westgate Leisure Centre.
Duane had high praise of the teams working to get residents vaccinated and said: “It has been amazing.
“Everybody has been really happy to come through the door and with such beaming smiles – you could see it through the masks.”
Duane said the set up has worked ‘really well’ but admitted the build up had been ‘nerve-racking’.
He added: “There has been a lot resting on my shoulders and I am really pleased that it has come out the way it has.”
Karen Woods, 67, from Selsey, said she was also looking forward to getting the jab.
A widow, Karen is part of her son’s bubble in Berkshire and spends a few days a week with her grandchildren.
“It has been lonely at times,” she said.
She called the operation being run at Westgate ‘excellent’.
“It’s just one more step towards us all being safe again – it’s excellent. I don’t like needles but I’ll be all right.”
Karen praised the team at Westgate and said she had been able to book her second jab when she booked her first.
“It’s nice to know that it has been booked.”
Karen will return to the centre in May to receive her second dose.
Ex-air Force, Tony Bullen, 66, offered his time to the cause as a volunteer.
“I used to work at the Bognor Hospital when the first lockdown hit. I was delivering PPE using my own van.
“Then I got a call and I said ‘let me know if anything else pops-up’ so when this came up I was available.
“It is a remarkable operation.”
When asked if she was looking forward to getting vaccinated, Kathy Perry, 65, from Arundel, said: “I certainly am.”
Kathy was queuing up to receive the jab when she spotted an old friend issuing the vaccine.
The two were unable to have a proper catch-up due to the jab being over and done within less than a minute.
With the announcement about the new site coming on the same day as the opening, immunisation lead Rosanna Raven said all sites have had ‘quite a quick turnaround’, adding: “Actually this one has benefited from learning from all the others.
“It’s a really positive thing because the staff we have got here have got experience from having worked in other centres.
“This specific centre there was a lot of things in the pipeline but a lot of the staff had already been trained at the Brighton Centre so we’d gone through that.
“There were a lot of staff ready.”
A target of 1,000 does a day has been set and Rosanna this will increase as time goes on.
At a city council meeting last Wednesday, mayor Richard Plowman praised residents for writing to the NHS requesting a city centre vaccine site and also singled out the Observer’s campaigning on the issue.
He felt the NHS had done a good job in rolling out jabs to patients, but had also listened to their concerns and acted on them.
He added: “That’s a very, very good result as there had been a lot of concern along the way.”
Martyn Bell added: “This is a huge relief to know this is happening and special tribute to the Chichester Observer and the campaign they ran for us.
“I’m sure that had a lot of impact.”
As this was at the leisure centre, he thanked Chichester District Council leader Eileen Lintill and its chief executive Diane Shepherd for their efforts too.
Meanwhile Chichester South county councillor Jamie Fitzjohn thanked the mayor for his personal efforts as he had ‘pushed it very hard and put his head on the block’.
In the seven days leading up to Thursday, West Sussex County Council confirmed there were 760 new cases across the county.
In Chichester, the number of confirmed cases in the same period was 91, putting the rate per 100,000 people at 751.
The figures are higher for Arun which had a 224 cases up to the same date.
The rate across the Arun district is 139.3.
According to the county council, since the start of the pandemic there have been 39,685 confirmed cases in West Sussex as of Tuesday, Febrary 23.
For the latest Covid news and updates, visit www. chichester.co.uk
It’s just one more step towards us all being safe again - it’s excellent
KAREN WOODS, 67, FROM SELSEY