GP hub vaccination services that have relocated to the Saga building in Ramsgate will continue throughout April.
This is despite the temporary halt in the majority of first jabs from the Kent Community Health Trust at the same building from April 1. Second jab appointments are not affected.
Dr Ash Peshen, who is one of the GPs with the Margate/Mocketts Wood hub, said: “Saga site vaccinations being delivered by practices will be open throughout April . We want to reassure our Thanet residents that we have sufficient supplies of vaccine coming through for doing the second doses.
“It is very important that people keep coming because every person we jab is a life saved.”
The Margate/Mocketts hub – made up of GPs from Mocketts Wood, Northdown, Bethesda and The Limes – vaccinated 3,500 people at a clinic held last Tuesday using the AstraZeneca vaccine.
The GPs are aiming to vaccinate some 2,700 people at a clinic at Saga this coming Tuesday (March 30). They are offering ‘drop-in’ jabs on that day from 8am to 8pm.
This is for patients from:
Margate – Any practice.
Broadstairs – Any practice.
Westgate Surgery
Birchington Medical Practice
Minster Surgery
Ash Surgery
Eligible patients must be:
Aged 50 and above
Between the age of 18 to 64 and clinically vulnerable
The JCVI defines patients who are clinically vulnerable as those with:
- chronic respiratory disease, including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), cystic fibrosis and severe asthma
- chronic heart disease (and vascular disease)
- chronic kidney disease
- chronic liver disease
- chronic neurological disease including epilepsy
- Down’s syndrome
- severe and profound learning disability
- diabetes
- solid organ, bone marrow and stem cell transplant recipients
- people with specific cancers
- immunosuppression due to disease or treatment
- asplenia and splenic dysfunction
- morbid obesity
- severe mental illness
- younger adults in long-stay nursing and residential care settings.
- adult carers (those in receipt of a carer’s allowance or who are the sole or primary carer of a person who is at high risk from COVID) will also fall into this cohort.
A further 1,170 jabs are planned for second doses of Pfizer vaccine given by the GP hub at the Saga site on Thursday, April 1 running from 8am until 5.30pm. These are invite only and aimed at patients from Westgate , Minster , Ash, Birchington Broadstairs medical practice and St Peters practice.
A further second dose Pfizer clinic on April 7 will be invite only and aimed at patients from The Limes, Northdown ,Bethesda and Mocketts Wood.
Ramsgate vaccination clinics are carried out at the Montefiore Medical Centre. The Ramsgate GP surgeries will contact their patients for jabs. They are currently concentrating on group 6 patients who are defined as adults aged 16 to 65 years in an at-risk group. (typically those patients invited for an annual flu jab due to an underlying condition). Staff are currently working through the list of patients eligible to be called.
Kent Community Health Trust oversees operations in the other half of the Saga building. The Trust says there will be limited availability for first dose jabs from their service in April but second doses are not affected by the vaccine shortage and temporary halt to some services.
A spokesperson for NHS Kent and Medway Clinical Commissioning Group said: “The NHS vaccination programme continues to make strong progress across Kent and Medway vaccinating over 800,000 people.
“In line with available supply, our vaccination centres will continue to offer appointments for second doses and GPs will continue to contact eligible patients for vaccinations throughout April.”
If you are aged 50 or over you can book online or call 119.
