Local Covid-19 vaccination clinics running in December

More pop-up and drop-in vaccination sessions are being held in Rochdale this month in response to the prime minister's recent pledge that everyone eligible in the UK will be offered a coronavirus booster vaccine by the end of January 2022.

There are drop-in vaccination clinics running throughout December at Number One Riverside where residents can get their first and second Pfizer jabs and booster vaccinations (if eligible). Details and dates below.

There are also several pop-up clinics running:

• Mobile clinic at The Strand, Kirkholt on Wednesday 8 & Friday 10 December 10am - 4pm for Pfizer vaccinations (first, second and booster jabs).
• Castlemere Community Centre on Thursday 9 December 1pm - 3pm for Pfizer vaccinations (first and second jabs) and AstraZeneca (second jabs).
• Deeplish Community Centre on Thursday 16 December 1pm - 3pm for Pfizer vaccinations (first and second jabs) and AstraZeneca (second jabs).

The sessions at Number One Riverside in Rochdale town centre are offering Pfizer first, second and booster jabs.

​​Pfizer booster for people 40 years and over, health and social care workers and young people at risk if it has been at least 3 months since your second dose. *Update 12 December - boosters now on offer anyone aged 18 or over 3 months after second dose.*

First dose of the Pfizer vaccine will be offered for people aged 16 and over.

Second dose of the Pfizer vaccine for people 18 years and over if it has been eight weeks or more since your first jab and for people 16-17 years if it has been twelve weeks or more since your first jab.

These sessions are being held on the following dates:

• Wednesday 8 December 9am - 5pm
• Saturday 11 December 10am - 6pm
• Sunday 12 December 9am - 5pm
• Wednesday 15 December 9am - 5pm
• Thursday 16 December 2pm - 9pm
• Saturday 18 December 10am - 6pm
• Sunday 19 December 9am - 5pm

All drop-in and pop-up clinics are for residents registered with a GP in the borough of Rochdale.

No appointment is needed but people that are booked in elsewhere should stick to their existing appointments.

If you're attending for your second vaccine or booster, it is important that you try to take your blue vaccination card with you.

If possible please have your NHS number with you - you can find this at www.nhs.uk

Details of all vaccination clinics and eligibility criteria for first, second and booster jabs at each can be found at:

• www.rochdaleonline.co.uk/events/search?searchtype=text&searchvalue=vaccine

 

Booster doses for people aged 18-39 - wait to be contacted by your GP. The NHS is working on plans to roll the booster vaccines out in a managed way. Those at most risk will be invited to be vaccinated first whilst capacity will be increased to vaccinate more people in a shorter space of time. Please do not contact your GP.

 

As of 2 December in the UK, a total of 19.4 million people have had their booster or third doses. 51 million have had a first dose and 46.4 million have had a second dose.

In an update to councillors, the chief executive of Rochdale Council, Steve Rumbelow, said that the local infection rate has fallen from previous weeks.

He said: "Our infection rate for the week commencing 27 November was 392 cases per 100,000 people, which was the fourth highest in Greater Manchester after a period of being the highest and a 14 per cent fall on the previous week. Most cases are still being found in younger people and among parents but our rate in the over 60s has fallen quite sharply and is now 162 cases per 100,000 people.

"As the effects of the new Omicron variant are still unclear we have taken the decision to advise [council] staff to work from home again, if possible, from Friday 3 December. This will be reviewed again in January and will provide some help to prevent the spread of what could turn out to be a more harmful strain of the virus. Hopefully, that will not be the case but we must proceed with caution until more is known."

On the vaccination programme, he said: "More than 600 jabs were administered at our first walk-in booster clinic at Number One Riverside yesterday [1 December]. Further clinics are being held and we are planning for how we meet the challenge of the newly-expanded booster programme.

"To give you a bit more context, we now have 93,000 booster jabs to deliver between now and the end of January, which is the target date for completion announced by the government earlier this week. That means we will have to jump from delivering 7,000 a week, which we are doing now, to 11,000 so you can see the size of the task. This is why the NHS is asking people to be patient and wait to be contacted.

On the situation in hospitals, Mr Rumbelow added: "There are still lots of covid patients in hospitals across Greater Manchester and delays to ambulance drop-offs. There is also still very high demand for non-covid care and very little capacity in intensive care wards. People working in the acute sector are doing what they can to manage the situation."