Hayes & Harlington Gazette

Many parts of capital have no coronaviru­s vaccine centres

LONDON HAS FEWEST CENTRES PER PERSON IN THE COUNTRY

- By ELLENA CRUSE

A MONTH after the Covid immunisati­on program began, many parts of London do not have a vaccine centre to roll out the jab, new research has found.

According to an analysis by The Times, London has the “fewest vaccinatio­n centres per person” in the country despite having the highest rates of weekly cases.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock said some two million injections would need to be delivered each week to get the country back to normal by Easter, but only 300,000 a week are being provided on average at present.

The publicatio­n said 13 million people across the country live in a constituen­cy with “no hospital, GP practise or community building for administer­ing vaccines”.

In London, lots of constituen­cies have no vaccinatio­n hubs including: ■ Dagenham and Rainham

■ East Ham

■ Popular and Limehouse

■ Hackney North and Stoke Newington

■ Enfield, Southgate

■ Eltham

■ Greenwich and Woolwich

■ Lewisham East

■ Lewisham West and Penge

■ Bromley and Chiselhurs­t

■ Camberwell and Peckham

■ Croydon Central

■ Streatham

■ Battersea

■ Wimbledon

■ Westminist­er North

■ Brentford and Isleworth

■ Ealing, Southall

■ Ealing North

■ Harrow West

■ Uxbridge and South Ruislip

■ Hayes and Harlington

Areas with one hub include:

■ Ilford North

■ Ilford South

■ Chingford and Woodford Green ■ Walthamsto­w

■ Leyton and Wanstead

■ West Ham

■ Hackney South and Shoreditch

■ Tottenham

■ Hornsey and Wood Green Enfield North

■ Chipping Barnet

■ Hendon

■ Brent Central

■ Ealing Central and Acton

■ Hammersmit­h

■ Chelsea and Fulham

■ Putney

■ Twickenham

■ Beckenham

■ Bexleyheat­h and Crayford

■ Vauxhall

■ Erith and Thamesmead

Areas with two hubs include:

■ Barking

■ Romford

■ Epping Forest

■ Harrow East

■ Brent North

■ Finchley and Golders Green

■ Hampstead and Kilburn

■ Islington North

■ Islington South and Finsbury

■ Kensington

■ Cities of London and Westminist­er

■ Bethnal Green and Bow

■ Bermondsey and Old Southwark ■ Lewisham Deptford

■ Dulwich and West Norwood

■ Tooting

■ Croydon North

■ Croydon South

■ Old Bexley and Sidcup

Areas with three or more hubs:

■ Edmonton (3)

■ Holborn and St Pancras (4)

■ Richmond Park (3)

Along with the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, the Oxford-AstraZenec jab has also been rolled out this week, however there are fears that the NHS does not have the number of staff and sites to get enough people vaccinated.

The Times’ analysis showed that some cities in the UK only have a single site giving out the jab, while eight million people in England face a journey of more than 10 miles to get to a hub. For an additional 1.7 million people this journey is 20 miles. This proves problemati­c for older, vulnerable members of the public as the nation recorded another 57,725 new cases of coronaviru­s on Saturday January 2.

The NHS told the publicatio­n: “In the first few weeks sites were chosen based on their ability to handle the vaccine.

“With more supplies now available, hundreds more sites are due to come online this week.”

The minister for Covid vaccine deployment, Nadhim Zahawi, added: “Over a million people have already been vaccinated right across the UK. The NHS has a clear vaccine delivery plan for the biggest mass vaccinatio­n campaign this country has ever seen.”

 ?? JACK HILL/THE TIMES/PA WIRE ?? Senior nurse Dilhani Somaweera vaccinates Kay Gallwey Chand, 84, at Royal Free Hospital in north London
JACK HILL/THE TIMES/PA WIRE Senior nurse Dilhani Somaweera vaccinates Kay Gallwey Chand, 84, at Royal Free Hospital in north London

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