COVID-19 Vaccination

GP Pressure

General practice is under a huge amount of pressure at this time, you can find the answers to all common vaccine queries at www.joinedupcarederbyshire.co.uk. Your practice is unable to address vaccine queries at this time, because the volume of queries is stopping sick people being able to contact for medical care. Please wait to be contacted.

When will I get my vaccination?

Thank you for your enquiry about when you will be offered a Covid-19 vaccination. The vaccination programme is being rolled out in a phased way, using age and clinical vulnerability as the main criteria for who is offered vaccinations.

Age

To find out if you are eligible for a vaccination based on your age, visit the JUCD website.

• If you are eligible by age, you can book using the National Booking System.

Clinical Vulnerability

The Government’s Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) has set out guidance on which groups should be offered vaccinations as a priority based on their clinical vulnerability. The main groups are:

• People who are “extremely clinically vulnerable”
  • You can read the Government definition of this on the Gov.UK website
  • People in this group can book an appointment using the National Booking System
• People who are “at risk” of becoming seriously ill from Covid-19
  • You can read the official list of “at risk” conditions on the Gov.UK website
  • This includes unpaid carers
  • GP practices are approaching “at risk” people and offering appointments, so please be patient if you haven’t been contacted yet

Vaccine Supply

Vaccine supply fluctuations sometimes limit the number of appointments available at different vaccination venues. This can be frustrating, but is beyond the control of GP staff or the vaccination teams, who do their best to ensure this does not affect patients’ booked appointments. Please be patient and, if you have an appointment, attend it unless you are contacted directly.

What This Means For You

If you are eligible by both age and because you are “at risk”, but not yet been offered an appointment at a GP-led site, you may choose to book an appointment using the National Booking System. If you prefer to have your vaccine with your local team please be patient they will call you when they have received vaccine for you.

You may see people younger than you receiving their vaccination. This may be for a number of reasons:

• They may be a frontline health or social care worker
• They may be considered “at risk” or “extremely clinically vulnerable”
• They may be a paid or unpaid carer

People who are “at risk” may not appear seriously ill, but many conditions, such as diabetes and chronic diseases of the heart, liver and kidney, are not always obvious and do put people at risk.

Staff at all the vaccination sites are working as hard as they can to carry out vaccinations as quickly as they can, and the main limiting factor is vaccine supply.

You will receive a vaccination as soon as it is appropriate and possible, and we realise the importance of doing this quickly. Please be patient and use the booking routes available to you.

How Are GP Practices Doing With Vaccinations?

NHS England statistics show the Joined Up Care Derbyshire continues to perform well compared with other systems across the Midlands the rest of England. Despite continuing challenges around vaccine supply, the vaccination teams in Derbyshire are achieving their targets. You can see the latest vaccination statistics on the NHS England website.

Please be reassured you will be contacted when it is your turn for a COVID-19 vaccine.

The Coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccination is safe and effective. It gives you the best protection against coronavirus.