Harold, 91, first to get Covid jab at Arena
Vaccine roll-out begins
HUNDREDS of people a day are now being vaccinated against Covid-19 at Derby Arena.
Yesterday morning, the first elderly and vulnerable patients in Derby and its suburbs began receiving the Covid-19 vaccine at the converted arena.
The capacity is starting off slowly with a few hundred patients each day, but this will ramp up to several thousand per day in the coming weeks.
Derby Arena is the largest Covid vaccination site in the county and it joins eight others across Derbyshire, in addition to Royal Derby Hospital and Chesterfield Royal Hospital.
The arena is only the second site in the county to be converted to its new use, rather than already serving as a health facility. It is owned by y Derby City Council.
First to have the jab at the he arena yesterday was 91-year-old d Harold Millington, of Chaddesden, n, who encouraged others to take e up the vaccine.
Patients being vaccinated ed at the arena are those regisstered to 30 GP surgeries s across Derby and its sub- urbs. There are said to be a quarter of a million eligible patients at the moment, out of 320,000 registered at t those surgeries.
Patients can only attend if they are contacted by their GP surgery and given an appointointment. Residents are urged not to call their GP surgery but to wait to be contacted.
Local health officials say the initial operating times for the Derby Arena vaccination site are 8am until 8pm. However, they hope to widen this as supply of Covid vaccines allows, though most likely not to 24 hours a day, said to be “beyond the pale”. The facility will be running seven days a week when it has sufficient supply of the vaccine.
As it stands, the arena only has enough en vaccines to last until the end of Saturday, awaiting new supplies at the start of next week. week
It is currently c administering the Pfizer/BioNTech Pfizer/Bio vaccine but will readily take t any supply it is presented with, w which will most likely see it using the Oxford University/ AstraZeneca vaccine soon. Patients will not be given a choice which they receive.
Health officials say that if a patient does not turn up for their slot – though they are not expecting that to happen very often – it would pass over to someone else and there would be no wastage of the vaccines.
With the Pfizer vaccine there is a mandatory 15-minute observation period after a patient receives the shot. This is not necessary with the Oxford jab, now being rolled out in the UK.
William Jones, chief operating officer at Derbyshire Community Health Services, said that health officials are aware of the pressure to administer the vaccine, especially with it forming a key target to allow the current lockdown to be eased.
However, he said he is not feeling that pressure yet and that local authorities are eager to play their part in rolling out the vaccine quickly and efficiently.
Many of the people now helping to roll out the vaccine are retired health professionals who have
returned to work after a “call to arms” from Derbyshire authorities.
Alongside them are members of the public who have volunteered their time to help with the process.
There are also, Mr Jones said, parttime staff who have topped up their hours to help with the roll out and full-time staff who are working overtime at nights and at weekends.
City council staff are also helping operate the vaccine roll out at the arena.
Mr Jones said: “My overwhelming feeling is of pride to get this started today. This has been weeks and months in planning and it is great to see people from Derby coming here to get the vaccine.
“I am full of pride and absolutely delighted about what we have achieved.
“What is wonderful about this venue is that we have the opportunity to be able to expand the capacity and to provide a top quality vaccine service for the people of the city and the surrounding areas.”
He said the current pandemic was the “most challenging time the NHS has ever experienced”.
Dr Drew Smith, GP at Wilson Street Surgery in Derby and co-clinical director of the local Primary Care Network of six GP surgeries, said it has been “exhausting” and “very tiring work” to get this point.