Professor Mike Holmes, who coordinates York’s mass vaccination centre, reveals how plans to give booster jabs are getting underway

IT feels like we’ve come full circle with the Covid vaccination programme as this week we start to invite people back for their third booster dose of the vaccine. The teams at the York Vaccination Centre have been poised ready to start delivering boosters for some time, so we’re pleased to be quick off the mark with eligible patients already coming to get their jabs.

It’s good to see a few familiar faces from way back in December when we launched the vaccination programme – the staff from St Leonard’s Hospice and other health professionals were some of the first to visit us and we will no doubt be welcoming them back again.

As with the first course (first and second dose) of the vaccine, people will be invited when the time is right. The guidance is that people should be offered the booster vaccine no earlier than six months after completion of the first course of vaccination.

Currently boosters are being offered to all adults aged 50 years or over, frontline health and social care workers, as well as people aged 16 to 49 years who are high risk and adult carers and adult household contacts of immunosuppressed individuals

It’s really important that York embraces this booster programme in the same way as we’ve rallied together to keep everyone protected so far.

We need continued protection for those most at risk from Covid as winter arrives.

At the same time we’re urging people to get their flu jabs and clinics are now up and running at our GP practices, as well as at the York Vaccination Centre and community pharmacies.

To make sure people are protected from serious complications of both flu and Covid, we need to get cracking with both vaccination programmes in tandem. Again, you will be invited when the time is right. No need to contact your surgery or the NHS, you will be invited shortly.

I’d also like to stress the importance of flu vaccinations for children. We’re running special children’s flu vaccination clinics in York. It was great to see healthcare staff at my own practice Haxby Group sporting Disney ears to welcome children to the clinic at the weekend.

More information on the flu vaccination is at www.nhs.uk/flujab

It’s been an eventful and productive week. Not only are we moving forward with the vaccine programmes, we have been sitting down with our York partners to discuss another exciting new pilot service to be run at our ‘Health Village’ at Askham Bar.

This has been seen joint working at its best and I’m so pleased to be part of this work which aims to keep children from having to go into hospital.

We’ve been working with teams at the hospital trust and clinical commissioners to launch an eight- week pilot project to help prevent babies and young children coming into hospital with severe breathing difficulties.

The service officially named the ‘Paediatric Ambulatory Treatment Hub’ will offer a bespoke and dedicated GP and paediatric nurse-led service to support children under the age of two years with bronchiolitis at the new hub at our Askham Bar site.

The purpose is to manage those children who are not unwell enough to require a hospital admission, and to safely identify those who do.

This week we’re supporting York Environment Week as all our teams focus on being more environmentally aware.

We’ll be promoting use of our e-scooter park and looking at more ways we can look after the environment for future generations.

We’re also supporting Macmillan Cancer on Friday, September 24 by taking part in the World’s Biggest Coffee Morning event, inviting our staff, volunteers and member GP practices along for a coffee and cake.

And we continue to promote our Career’s Fair to be held at Askham Bar on October 9.

If you’re interested in a career in healthcare, this is the place to be. You’ll have the opportunity to meet the Nimbuscare teams and get first hand information about all the vacancies and opportunities within healthcare in the city.