by Wickhambrook Parish Clerk
On Friday the Local Outbreak Engagement Board had an update about Suffolk’s roll-out of the vaccines programme and also mass-testing.
Three Covid-19 vaccines have been developed with promising efficacy so far. The vaccines developed by Pfizer and BioNTech and Moderna have shown efficacies of 94% and 95% respectively in clinical trials. A third vaccine, the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine, has now been found to stop 70% of people developing Covid symptoms.
In Suffolk, partners have worked hard to make sure we are in the position to take delivery of the vaccine by 1 December. This does not mean we will have the vaccine by then, but we are ready to deploy when asked. The vaccine isn’t licenced yet so we await news of when to expect the first deliveries of the drug. We know that the East of England is to take delivery of 9.8million vaccines, although we don’t know what specific numbers Suffolk will receive. We will then be guided by Government about the phased targeting of priority groups – who will get the vaccine, when and where. The vaccinations will be delivered in three ways – fixed vaccination centres, mobile mass vaccination centres and a roving service to visit vulnerable people in their homes. As you can imagine, the resource needed to staff this is immense and there are lots of opportunities for work. If you’re interested you can look for local opportunities here: https://eput.nhs.uk/about-us/working-at-eput/vaccine-recruitment/
Another area of development is around mass testing. In line with local authorities across the country, each week Suffolk will have the means to test 10% of the population. This amounts to about 78,000 people. These tests, called lateral flow tests, return results within the hour which means people have the peace of mind to live normally for a while. This is of enormous benefit to frontline workers who can return to duties sooner – the Government calls this test and release. Again, we await instruction from Public Health England as we continue to finalise our plans.