Professor Mike Holmes, who leads York’s mass vaccination centre, asks people to encourage loved ones to get their jab as cases of the Covid Delta variant continue to rise

Nimbuscare has been working with our local authority and local NHS over the last week to respond to the rise in Covid-19 cases in the city. Our teams have pulled out all the stops, once again, to set up and run pop-up vaccination clinics across the city.

Our recent pop up clinics at the University of York were so successful, with almost 700 people vaccinated across the two days.

So, to make it more convenient for people, we’ve organised nine extra clinics at places where we know young people live and frequent, such as York’s two universities, Tang Hall and Burnholme.

As one of the largest vaccination centres in the UK, we helped publicise the national #GrabAJab weekend which was taking part across the country. To find a pop up clinic near you just go to nhs.uk/grab-a-jab

We’ve been supporting this campaign in both the national and local media - indeed we were featured on BBC Breakfast news at the weekend, as well as on BBC Look North and ITV Calendar.

As cases of the Delta variant continue to rise, it’s more important than ever that we encourage our nearest and dearest to come and get their jab. As the nation gears up for the removal of Covid restrictions next month, people need to get protected and the pop-up clinics mean there’s no need to have an appointment. We are seeing a rise in Covid cases but this is predominantly in unvaccinated people highlighting the importance of coming forward and getting your Covid-19 vaccination. So here in York we’re working together to make that as easy as possible.

Just to clarify, the walk-in clinics are mainly for first dose vaccinations. If you are coming for your second dose, you can only do this if you had your first dose at least eight weeks ago.

At the Askham Bar vaccination centre, we continue to offer a walk-in facility from 8am until 8pm seven days a week. To help with transport to the vaccination centre, local bus operator First York has produced a handy, online travel guide too.

So how are we doing in our region in terms of vaccinations? The Humber, Coast and Vale region has a population of 1.7million and we have delivered well over 2 million first and second dose vaccinations so far. Around 62 per cent of all adults in our region have had both vaccinations which is great news.

We held our Annual General Meeting last week with our member practices – we were able to look back at the last year but also start to look to the future. We’re really looking forward to working with partners in the city to improve health and social care services for the residents of York. As a city, during the pandemic, we have demonstrated that a collaborative culture can have significant impact. It is so important that we continue this into the future - I feel passionately about this as I know it will make a real difference to people’s lives.

Whilst all this work has been going on, some of the Nimbuscare team were up all night at the weekend helping raise money for St Leonard’s Hospice by taking part in their Midnight Walk. Providing quality end of life care for everyone is such an important objective and events like this really do help to make that possible. Thank you to everyone who took part!

Another example of the community spirit we have seen throughout, came from the team at Good Gym who came along to help us with the Memorial Garden project last week as we made some great progress clearing the flower beds - so a big thanks to them from the Nimbuscare.

The vaccination services are not the only service we’ve been delivering during the pandemic. For just over year, we’ve also been working in partnership with York Centre for Voluntary Service (CVS) contacting patients who are suspected, or confirmed, of having Covid-19, at their homes. The aim is to provide a regular check-in to see how they are coping. The team makes sure they have access to food and medication, as well as the opportunity to monitor their oxygen levels at home. To date, around 5,000 local people have been contacted the service which we call the SPA (Single Point of Access) Hub.

POP UP VACCINATION CLINCS IN YORK

We're staging a series of walk-in, pop-up Covid vaccination clinics at venues across the city during the coming week to try to reach local people over the age of 18 years who have not yet received their first dose.

All eligible patients are welcome to turn up on the day. Or those receiving a text can book in for an appointment.

Anyone who has not yet received their first dose is encouraged to attend one of the following clinics:

• Monday 28 June, from 12.45pm to 5pm, at Burnholme Sports Centre (Pfizer).

• Tuesday 29 June, from 8.30am to 7.30pm, at the University of York (Pfizer).

• Wednesday 30 June, from 5pm to 8.30pm, at York St. John University (Pfizer).

• Thursday 1 July, from 12.30pm to 3.30pm, at York St. John University (Pfizer).

• Friday 2 July, from 8.30am to 7.30pm, at York St. John University (Pfizer).

• Saturday 3 July, from 12.30pm to 3.30pm, at Priory Medical Group’s Tang Hall Lane Surgery (Pfizer).

• Sunday 4 July, from 8.45am to 3pm, at Burnholme Sports Centre (Pfizer).