Covid vaccines due to hit 100,000 in Sunderland

A health worker prepares a covid vaccine. Sunderland is due to hit the 100,000 mark for people receiving covid jabs.

The jab roll out started in Wearside at the end of 2020, with patients queuing up at GP practices and Washington’s Nightingale Hospital for their turn, while a door-to-door service was even offered for the most vulnerable families.

The achievement means more than two thirds of Sunderland’s 140,000 people should have received the treatment by the weekend.

“As of Monday, March 8, we’ve vaccinated 95,800 people with their first dose,” said David Chandler, deputy chief officer and chief financial officer at Sunderland Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG).

“The decline rate has been very low – we’re talking about one per cent declining.

“By the end of this week I expect we will hit the 100,000 people mark in Sunderland, which I think is a massive achievement.

“In terms of second doses, we’re working on 11 weeks after your first dose, you should get your second dose and we’ve commenced that for the over 80s and care home patients and staff already.”

Chandler was speaking at last night’s (Wednesday, March 10) meeting of Sunderland City Council’s Health and Wellbeing Scrutiny Committee, which was held by videolink and broadcast via YouTube.

Within Sunderland, the CCG’s focus has been on priority cohorts four and six, covering anyone under 70 deemed clinically vulnerable.

Cohorts five, seven, eight and nine, which includes those aged 50 – 69, are being mainly dealt with by the mass vaccination centres, such as Washington’s Nightingale Hospital or Newcastle’s Centre for Life.

Shedding light on how Wearside had approached the 100,000 mark so quickly, Chandler added bosses would ‘never refuse a vaccine’ when offered.

He said: “It doesn’t matter how difficult it is to do the logistics, to get people hooked up and get them in or how many hours we have to work.

“Quite often our nurses have had to do 12-hour shifts on weekends.

“But we have never not accepted a vaccine offer and we work to never waste a vaccine – we would always administer them to a patient.”

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