Traffic is slow in Tothill Street, Minster, as people attend appointments at the GP surgery to get their covid vaccine jab today (January 16).
Those attending, and residents, have reported a backlog on the road as people take up the offer to get their jab. Appointments have been booked between 8am and 6pm.
The surgery is one of three sites in Thanet co-ordinating vaccinations with those in the over 80s age group one of the top priority groups.
In Thanet the groups are Minster Surgery– serving patients at Westgate Surgery, Minster Surgery, St Peter’s Surgery, Birchington Medical Practice, Broadstairs Medical Practice, Ash Surgery. Minster surgery says there are more than 3,000 patients in the over 80s group for this hub who are eligible for vaccinations. The surgery group is now due to make appointments for those in age bands 50 and above, in order of priority.
Mocketts Wood/Margate – serving The Limes Medical Centre, Northdown Surgery, Bethesda Medical Centre, Mocketts Wood Surgery
Montefiore Centre, Ramsgate – serving The Grange Medical Practice, Summerhill Surgery, Dashwood Medical Centre, East Cliff Practice, Newington Road Surgery.
Traffic map data for Minster shows traffic is slow from the High Street and into Tothill Street.
One patient getting their jab this morning was 80-year-old Dan O’Leary.
He said: “There are marshalls stopping you from driving in until you tell them why you are there and then lots of elderly people waiting for their vaccine.
“When you go inside they take you for your injection and then you have to sit on a little chair for 15 minutes until you can leave. It is very modern and I’m impressed but there were lots of people trying to get in and parking up.”
The government has pledged that by the end of January, everyone in England will be within 10 miles of a vaccination site or, for a small number of highly rural areas, the vaccine will be brought to them via mobile teams. They say the aim is to offer the first vaccine dose to all those in the top 4 priority groups recommended by the Joint Committee of Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) by February 15.
People will be contacted when the vaccine is available for them.
| Priority | Risk group |
| 1 | Residents in a care home for older adults and staff working in care homes for older adults |
| 2 | All those 80 years of age and over and frontline health and social care workers |
| 3 | All those 75 years of age and over |
| 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) |
| 5 | All those 65 years of age and over |
| 6 | Adults aged 16 to 65 years in an at-risk group (see below) |
| 7 | All those 60 years of age and over |
| 8 | All those 55 years of age and over |
| 9 | All those 50 years of age and over |
| 10 | Rest of the population (to be determined) |
This month the vaccine developed by Moderna became the third to be approved by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). The other two are the Pfizer/BioNTech and the Oxford/AstraZeneca.
