Councillor Tudor Evans thanked the army of NHS staff and volunteers who are staffing the new COVID-19 vaccination centre at Home Park on Friday.
The Leader paid a socially distanced visit to the Mayflower Grandstand at Plymouth Argyle Football Club’s stadium – following the first week of them receiving booked appointments for priority residents.
The Home Park site, which is managed by the University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust, will mean that thousands more vaccinations will be given every week in Plymouth and provide local people with a wider choice of options when they receive their invitation for an appointment.
Already, over 145,000 people have received their first jab in Devon, with approximately 80 per cent of people aged 80 and above already vaccinated.
Council Leader Tudor Evans OBE said: “We were delighted to be able to offer our support to the NHS and help build the Home Park vaccination centre. I would like to thank all the amazing NHS staff, council workers and the army of volunteers who have helped to set up the site and will keep it running over the coming months. It's a huge relief that the vaccine is being offered to our most vulnerable residents and those who care for them.
“This new facility, along with the rollout of other local testing centres at a number of local pharmacies, represents the latest positive step in the tortuous battle to stop the spread of this awful virus and ultimately get us back to a normal way of life which we all long for."
The NHS vaccination programme, the biggest in the health service’s history, is being delivered as health service staff are treating record numbers of seriously ill patients with COVID, caused by rapidly rising infection numbers.
Residents are reminded NOT to contact the NHS to seek a vaccine, the NHS will contact you. When you are contacted, please attend your booked appointments. And whether you have had a vaccine or not, please continue to follow all the guidance to control the virus and save lives – that means staying at home as much as you can, and following the ‘hands, face, space’ guidance when you can’t.