York Vaccination Centre has delivered its 100,000th dose – and special guest Harry Gration was on hand to see it.
Aaron Gordon was the recipient of the milestone jab yesterday (Wednesday), which comes just three months after the first in the city.
Nimbuscare, the group of 11 York GP practices which runs the site, started the vaccination programme on 22 December.
Company bosses Madeline Ruff and Prof Mike Holmes handed out cupcakes, donated by Thomas the Baker, to staff and patients.
Madeline said: “This is a great achievement by all those involved in the vaccination centre – it’s been a city-wide approach.
“We’re so grateful to our staff, volunteers, partners and the local businesses involved. It’s been about team work right from the start. York should be very proud of what we have achieved here to date
“We’ve estimated that here at the York Vaccination Centre we’ve consistently delivered around one in every 250 of the vaccines carried out nationally.
“And we think we have the capability to vaccinate all our over 50s by Easter if we can carry on at the same rate.”
Concerns over supplies
Madeline thanked all the patients who had come to the centre for their jab.
“We enjoy their smiles and messages of thanks and it gives our teams a real boost to see the difference they are making to people’s lives.”
However, there are concerns today that delays to supplies mean the vaccination programme could delay the end of lockdown.
A letter to local health leaders in England asked vaccination centres and community pharmacy-led services to close unfilled bookings and “ensure no further appointments are uploaded” to booking systems in April.
NHS bosses said that as a result of reduced vaccine supplies, people under the age of 50 should only get the jab if they are in a priority group, meaning younger adults could face a longer wait to be be vaccinated.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock told a Downing Street press conference that vaccine supply was “always lumpy” and insisted the nation was on track to meet the target of offering a first dose to all over-50s by April 15.