Spring Boosters
People aged 75 and over, care home residents and people with weakened immune systems are now being offered their Spring Booster. This follows the recommendation from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) that an extra dose should be offered to these groups to make sure those at greatest risk continue to have high levels of protection against COVID-19.
If you are eligible for an extra booster, the NHS will contact you when it is your turn with details of how to make an appointment. People are being prioritised according to when their had their previous booster and by clinical need so please wait to hear and do not contact your GP practice or other NHS services. Everyone who is eligible will be contacted between 21 March and early Summer, depending on when they had their last booster.
Once invited, people will be able to book an appointment at a convenient vaccination centre. Some people may also be contacted by their GP practice and offered an appointment but not all GP services are offering this service so please only contact your GP about a spring booster if you receive an invitation.
If you haven’t had your previous booster, you can visit www.nhs.uk/covid-booster or call 119 to book an appointment.
Getting your COVID-19 booster
In response to the national effort to protect people against the Omicron variant, the NHS is working to offer everyone aged 18 and over the chance to book a COVID-19 booster vaccine by the end of December.
You can now have your booster 3 months after your second dose and we will contact you when it is your turn. We will be prioritising people according to their age so please do not contact the practice for an appointment until you are invited.
Alternatively, you can book an appointment at a community or pharmacy vaccination centre using the NHS National Booking Service. You can book online at www.nhs.uk/covidvaccine or by calling 119. The service is currently very busy but more appointments are being added all the time so please keep checking back if you can’t get an appointment as quickly as you would like.
Covid-19 Vaccination Invitation Letters from the National Booking System
If you are aged (75) or over, and have not yet had a vaccination, you may get a letter from the NHS national booking system inviting you to make an appointment at a large scale centre or community pharmacy.
These are being sent to people who live within 45 minutes of one of the centres that has been opened, which might be in a different area to where you would normally receive your healthcare.
Please note that you do not have to book an appointment at one of these centres if it is not convenient for you to get there. You can:
- choose to wait for an invitation from your GP practice
OR
- choose to wait until one of the West Yorkshire centres open and are added to the national booking system, which will happen over the next few weeks.
Please do not contact your local practice about an appointment until you receive an invitation from them. They will not be able to advise you on when you will get an appointment or which centres are available. All this information is available on the national booking system website.
The centres in West Yorkshire that are currently on the national booking system are:
- Boots pharmacy in Halifax
- Superdrug in the Merrion Centre, Leeds
- Pharmacy2U at the Village Hotel, Leeds
- Pharmacy2U at Morrisons, Dewsbury Road, Wakefield.
Four large scale vaccination centres will be opening in West Yorkshire between now and mid- February. This will be at:
- Navigation Walk, Wakefield
- The John Smith’s Stadium, Huddersfield
- Jacob’s Well, Bradford
- Elland Road Football Stadium, Leeds
Covid-19 Vaccination Programme
The NHS is now offering vaccinations to people in Kirklees who are most at risk from Covid-19.
Our practice is busy contacting eligible patients as supplies are made available. It is likely take several weeks before we contact everyone, so please be patient.
Vaccinations are currently being offered to people in care homes and those aged 80 and over in line with national priority groups identified by the Joint Committee of Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI).
When it is your turn, you will receive an invitation via the phone or through a letter either from your GP or the national booking system. When you are invited for a vaccine, please act straight away.
We know people are eager to get protected but do not to contact the practice for information about the vaccine or to ask for an appointment. You will not be able to get a vaccination until you receive an invitation.
We are currently receiving a large number of enquiries about the COVID-19 vaccination. Before you contact the practice, please check the NHS website or look at these frequently asked questions where you may find the answer to your question.
COVID-19 infection rates remain high and local health services are incredibly busy. The best thing we can all do to protect ourselves our families and our community is to remember - Hands, Face, Space.
Vaccination Fraud
Vaccinations are free of charge and only available through the NHS. Anyone who offers a vaccination privately or for a fee is likely to be committing a crime and should be reported to the police online or by calling 112.
The NHS will never ask you to press a button on your keypad or send a text asking you to confirm you want the vaccine.
The Pfizer BioNTech vaccine has now been approved for use and the NHS will be starting to offer this to priority groups as soon as supplies arrive.
When will a vaccine be available?
The first deliveries of the vaccine should be during w/c 7 December and the NHS is ready to start offering them as soon as they arrive to those who need them most.
Who will get a vaccine?
The vaccine will be offered to those at greatest risk from Covid19 first, starting with people living in care homes, people over 80 years old and frontline health and social care workers. This is based on the guidance from the Joint Committee for Vaccinations and Immunisations which is available here. As more supplies of the vaccine or alternative vaccines become available it will be rolled out in phases to people aged between 80 and 50 and those who are clinically extremely vulnerable. People will be invited for a vaccine when it is their turn so they do not need to contact their practice or the NHS.
Where can I get a vaccine?
To start with, vaccines will only be available at hospital ‘hubs’ where the Pfizer vaccine can be stored safely. However, arrangements are also being put in place to offer vaccines from a number of different locations as more supplies and different vaccines become available. These include local vaccine services provided by GPs and pharmacists and new dedicated vaccination centres to make sure that everyone who needs a vaccine is able to get one.
Further information
We will share further information with you as it becomes available. In the meantime, there are three things people can do to help:
- Please don’t contact the NHS to seek a vaccine - we will contact you when it’s the right time to you to have yours
- Please act on your invite when it comes, and make sure you attend your appointments when you arrange them;
- Please continue to abide by all the social distancing and hand hygiene guidance, which will still save lives.