ORGANISERS of York’s mass vaccination centre are expecting an increase in their vaccine supplies later this month, which should enable them to hit their target of jabbing all eligible adults by the end of July.

Coordinator Prof Mike Holmes revealed the positive news at the former Askham Bar Park & Ride site in his latest column for The Press.

He also said that:

  •  More than 200,000 jabs have now been given at the site.
  •  Take up of the vaccine is ‘exceptionally strong’ in this region, with 19 out of 20 over 50-year-olds having had their first jab.
  •  The take up of the vaccine amongst ethnic minority groups is also improving and has almost tripled in the last two months.

Prof Holmes said he hadn’t thought it would be possible for him to be more proud of the Nimbuscare team, but it had happened in the past week, as they had been "incredible".

He said: “They are running two services, using three different vaccines, giving both first doses and second doses, adapting to the needs of our population, dealing with queries from the public and all of this whilst managing the supply challenges that are affecting the whole country.”

He said the appointment systems were particularly complicated at Askham Bar because it was unique in York, as two services were running alongside each other – local and national.

The administrative team had also been juggling between three different IT systems for booking, ordering and clinical records, which added to the complexity of the task.

“There are so many things to be proud of and so many lessons to be learned – but perhaps having everything on the same IT system is one of the most important lessons for the future,” he said.

Prof Holmes said the latest data about the impact of the vaccination programme on the pandemic was "very encouraging", showing that one dose reduced transmission of the virus by up to 50 per cent.

He stressed that anyone over 50 who had not yet had their jab could still book in for an appointment, and that anyone who was pregnant should know there was new evidence confirming it was safe for them to have the vaccine.