Over 70s to get jab by mid February
Windsor: Vaccination team working hard to meet target
Staff working at a coronavirus vaccination centre in Windsor have been set a target of reaching the over 70s and clinically vulnerable people by mid-February, a retired GP helping in the jab programme has said.
Dr Jenny Langdon, who retired about five years ago, says it is ‘wonderful’ to be rejoining the NHS in the fight against COVID-19, but said this target is only possible if supplies of the injection are available and there are enough people to administer it.
Dr Langdon and her team are working out of Windsor Racecourse and have also been visiting care facilities and people’s homes across Windsor with the jab.
She compared the vaccine to an object being wrapped around a key preventing it from working on a door – much like a virus no longer entering the cells of a protected person.
The team at the racecourse have been getting through the over 80s, and are hoping to get on to the 75-80 age category next week.
Bosses have set them a target of mid-February to vaccinate the over 70s and those over 16 who are extremely vulnerable.
Doctors are armed with two vaccines – the PfizerBioNTech version and the British-made Oxford/AstraZeneca.
Dr Langdon says the latter is a lot easier to administer not just because of its lower storage temperatures, but also because people do not have to be checked over for as long after they receive the jab.
On the mid-February target, Dr Langdon added: “That is fine, but it is rather dependent on us getting the vaccine and having enough people to give it out.”
The retired GP, from Holyport, has been working in medicine in Africa since retirement but says she has enjoyed returning to the NHS.
She has urged other people in a similar position as her to do the same thing and join the mass vaccination effort.
“I have loved it. To do this and feel you are fighting back against this virus is wonderful,” she said.
Dr Langdon also described the feeling of meeting people about to be given the jab, many of whom have been isolating since March.
“As soon as people realise we have got the vaccine, there is a great big smile. It gives people a boost,” she said.
“A lot of these patients have not been out since March at all. We have had people in tears.”
Dr Langdon stressed the importance of remaining vigilant after a first dose, as although people have some immunity from COVID, they need to wait until their second before they receive full protection.
Vaccine myths have been spreading on social media, and Dr Langdon dispelled common conspiracy theories, but she did acknowledge that people may have health concerns about the jab and urged them to report any side-effects on the NHS website.
“The risk from the disease is huge – the risk from the vaccination is minuscule compared to it,” she said.
“The virus is having a great time at the moment.
“It is going from human to human and this [the vaccine] is the light at the end of the tunnel.”