T H E P U B L I C AT I O N F O R N U R S I N G A N D R E S I D E N T I A L C A R E H O M E S
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The Carer Digital
THECARERUK
THECARERUK
Issue 40
COVID Jab “Milestone” Reached in Every Care Home in England
A Covid vaccine has been offered to all older residents at eligible care homes in England, the NHS has announced. Prime Minister Boris Johnson described the achievement as a "crucial milestone". In a major achievement for the NHS vaccination programme, nurses, GPs and other NHS staff have offered the life-saving jab to people living at more than 10,000 care homes with older residents. The small remainder have had their visits deferred by local directors of public health for safety reasons during a local outbreak. Those homes will be visited and jabbed as soon as NHS staff are allowed to do so. While in a small number of cases a severe outbreak of COVID-19 will have prevented a team from visiting, any care home yet to be visited for a vaccination clinic is going to have one booked in as soon as it is deemed safe by local public
health protection clinicians to do so. Vaccination staff are also returning to homes that have been covered to jab any resident who was unable to have it during the previous visit because they had recently had COVID or for other clinical reasons. The vaccination programme, the biggest in NHS history, has got off to a strong start with more than eight million doses administered. Dr Nikki Kanani, NHS England’s primary care director, as a practising GP has also been personally delivering vaccines to care home residents and staff, said: “I want to thank my colleagues, and everyone involved in the vaccine rollout for their extraordinary work in recent weeks, as it is because of their tireless efforts that millions of people have already been vaccinated, including hundreds of thousands of care home residents, and as a result we are a vital step further in our fight against COVID-19."
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