If we are to find a way out of the coronavirus pandemic, we need to have a fully mobilised vaccination programme and I welcome the moves by the Government to increase vaccination capacity to 2 million vaccines a week.  I hope that as time goes on capacity can increase further.

The Government has also announced that it will publicise, on a daily basis, the current levels of vaccinations in the United Kingdom to ensure that areas which have lower vaccine rates are addressed, avoiding a postcode lottery approach.

For the benefit of everyone in Bolton South East, I thought that it would be useful to outline where, when, and how we will be vaccinated.

Please note, this information is specifically for the residents of Bolton South East.  If you require further information please go to the GOV UK website, which has a plethora of information on the coronavirus and the vaccine, and if necessary, feel free to contact my office.

Where

The location of your vaccination will depend on your home address.  For most within the Bolton South East constituency, your vaccination centres will be either of the following:

• Lever Chambers, which will serve Rumworth, Central Bolton, Farnworth, and Kearsley
• Breightmet Health Centre, which will serve Breightmet, Little Lever

Both of these centres are located along public transport routes and are in accessible locations.

Additionally, the Government has today established seven ‘super centres’ throughout the country, with the closest to Bolton South East being Manchester City FC’s Etihad Campus.  Details regarding this will be released soon.

Matt Hancock, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, and Nadhim Zahawi, the Minister responsible for Vaccine Rollout, have both reiterated that, starting next week, more large-scale vaccination centres will be established to bolster the roll out.

When

The Government has outlined nine clear priority groups for vaccinations, which are outlined between 1-10.  Individuals in priority groups 1-4 are to be vaccinated by mid-February, as this cohort are at the most at risk, these are as follows:

• Priority 1 – Residents in a care home for older adults and staff working in care homes for older adults
• Priority 2 – All those 80 years of age and over and frontline health and social care workers
• Priority 3 – All those 75 years of age and over
• Priority 4 – All those 70 years of age and over and clinically extremely vulnerable individuals (not including pregnant women and those under 16 years of age)

Those in priority levels 5-9 are to be vaccinated by the spring period, which the government should define exactly in the coming weeks. These are people as follows:

• Priority 5 – All those 65 years of age and over
• Priority 6 – Adults aged 16 to 65 years in an at-risk group (see below)
• Priority 7 – All those 60 years of age and over
• Priority 8 – All those 55 years of age and over
• Priority 9 – All those 50 years of age and over

Matt Hancock stated that the rest of the population, of which a specific set of criteria will be determined at a later date, will be vaccinated by autumn.

How

There are three vaccines which the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) have approved, but the government has varying supply levels for each one, and each vaccine is slightly different.

There are 40 million doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, which was the first vaccine to gain approval. It provides an efficacy rate of 94% for over 65 years of age.

The Government made orders of 90 million for the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine which will be rolled out in Bolton centres this week.  The first dose provides a 70% efficacy rate, with the booster jab providing a total efficacy of 90%.

There are 17 million doses of the Moderna vaccine, which is 95% effective.

Currently, the vaccination programme will run between 8am and 8pm, but Nadhim Zahawi today outlined that if need be this can be increased.

You will receive direct correspondence regarding your vaccine through your local NHS provider, or your workplace if you are a healthcare worker.