THE NHS Covid vaccination programme is stepping up in York as the city prepares to extend its vaccination site at Askham Bar.

It will reopen from tomorrow (January 18) as one of the first NHS Vaccination Centres, offering additional vaccinations to people from across the region.

Since December 2020 residents within the City of York have been invited by their GP practice to have their vaccination at the the Askham Bar site, which was formerly the Park & Ride. The new extension to the vaccination centre, which will give vaccinations to people within a 45 minute drive, will operate in addition to the GP-led vaccination service. York residents will continue to receive their vaccinations in line with the Government’s priority groups.

Both services will be managed by a collaboration of local GPs called Nimbuscare which has already been running the Local Vaccination Service from the site since before Christmas, on behalf of 11 York GP Practices. The site is also used as a flu vaccination site which Nimbuscare opened in October.

The NHS Vaccination Centre will be capable of delivering thousands of jabs each day. York people will continue to be vaccinated at the site.

This is NOT a drive-through site. People will be asked to park before being directed to go inside one of the new Vaccination Centre buildings.

What’s new?

The current five Vale of York Local Vaccination Services will now be strengthened by the opening of the Vaccination Centre to cover a wider area – available for people living within a 45-minute radius of the York site.

How will the NHS Vaccination Centre work?

This new service will be for people who live within a 45-minute radius of the site and invitations will go out to patients from the NHS Covid Vaccination Booking Service, telling them how to get an appointment.

Who can come to the NHS Vaccination Centre for their vaccine?

People should wait to be invited. They will be invited as per the priority groups, determined by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI). People should not call their GP, but use the booking line shown on the letter. If an appointment has already been offered by their GP, people can choose which appointment suits them best.