Care home residents to get virus vaccine

Over 2,000 care home residents in Sunderland have been prioritised for coronavirus vaccinations before the end of January.

Care Quality Commission data shows there were 2,111 elderly people in care homes in the city in December and GPs and local vaccination services have been asked to give injections to every resident in their area by the end of January.

With the rollout of the OxfordAstra Zeneca vaccine, this is a target of around 75 a day.

The figures assume an 85% occupancy level in the area, but there could be as many as 2,483 residents in Sunderland.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has set a target for the four highest priority groups to be vaccinated by mid-February.

Care home staff are in the top t wo groups – with around 4,675 in Sunderland as of September 2019.

Vic Rayner, executive director of the National Care Forum, said: "The scale of the challenge set by Government over the next month is significant.

"It will rely on huge amounts of local communication and coo rd i n at i o n b ut th e re s p o n s e to the vaccine so far has been incredible, with residents and staff embracing it.”

H e ad d e d : “Eve r yo n e is seeing this as a way forward and being able to mark it as ‘job done’ by the end of the month will be the booster that everyone across the country needs."

Health Secretary Matt Hancock said: "The NHS is doing everything it can to vaccinate those most at risk as quickly as possible."