It has been announced that Portsmouth University Hospital will be 1 of 50 hospitals in the United Kingdom to be included in the first wave of vaccine roll-out across the country. The decision was announced on the 6th December.
Portsmouth University Hospital, which operates mainly from its principal site the Queen Alexandra Hospital, is expected to begin vaccinations from the 15th December onwards. The protocols in place dictate that those over the age of 80, care home workers, and NHS staff considered at risk will be the first to receive their jabs.
The rate of coronavirus cases in Portsmouth is 177.8 per 100,000 people every week, above the average rate across England, which was 165.9 last week, and significantly more than Southampton, which has 78.4 cases per 100,000 people.
The NHS national medical director, Professor Stephen Powis, described the vaccine rollout:
Despite the huge complexities, hospitals will kickstart the first phase of the largest scale vaccination campaign in our country’s history from Tuesday. The first tranche of vaccine deliveries will be landing at hospitals by Monday in readiness. The NHS has a strong record of delivering large scale vaccination programmes – from the flu jab, HPV vaccine and lifesaving MMR jabs – hardworking staff will once again rise to the challenge to protect the most vulnerable people from this awful disease.