Nearly 14,000 care home residents in region to be vaccinated by end of January
Nearly 14,000 care home residents in the Black Country and Staffordshire have been prioritised to receive the coronavirus vaccine before the end of January.
The National Care Forum said the target will be a significant challenge for health services across England, but achieving it would be the "booster" that everyone needs.
GP and local vaccination services have been asked to give injections to every care home resident in their area by the end of January.
There were 6,516 care home residents in Staffordshire as of December, according to analysis of Care Quality Commission (CQC) data. With the roll-out of the Oxford vaccine, it is a target of around 233 per day in the county.
While in the Black Country, there were 2,044 care home residents in Wolverhampton in December, 2,037 in Dudley, 1,843 in Sandwell, and 1,554 in Walsall.
There are around 389,000 care home residents in England who, along with their carers, make up the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation's first priority group for jabs.
Vic Rayner, executive director of the NCF, 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 coordination between care homes, GPs and local public health teams.
"The response to the vaccine so far has been incredible, with residents and staff embracing it when available.
"Everyone is seeing this as a way forward for this most vulnerable population and being able to mark it as ‘job done’ by the end of the month will literally be the booster that everyone across the country needs."
Age UK director Caroline Abrahams said: "Care homes have had a torrid time since the start of the pandemic and it is vital that vaccinations happen as quickly and efficiently as possible and that residents and the care staff get the protection they need."
Proud
It comes as GP surgeries in the region were expected to start distributing the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine to patients this week.
A spokesman for the Black Country Clinical Commissioning Groups said: "We can confirm that some Primary Care Networks across the Black Country and West Birmingham are due to receive the Oxford vaccine this week, however these are not yet confirmed.
"The Oxford vaccine does not need to be stored at ultra-low temperatures and is much easier to move, making it easier to use.
"Therefore when PCNs begin to receive these they will be used to vaccinate care homes and patients who are housebound in the first instance."
While mass vaccination hubs at seven sites across England – including Millennium Point in Birmingham – will start next week.
Abbie Vlahakis, CEO at Millennium Point, said: “We are very proud to be able to support NHS staff in delivering the Covid-19 vaccination programme in Birmingham.
“It’s important that we’re clear with the public that this centre will be operating by appointment only, so they should not attend unless they have already been directly contacted by the NHS and have an appointment booked."
