THE community vaccine programme for people over 80 will begin in Ludlow and south Shropshire next Thursday.

People will be contacted by their GP from Monday.

Vaccinations will be given at a centre in Church Stretton if people can attend but there will be alternative arrangements for those who cannot travel.

“Our board has always agreed that the delivery of these vaccines must be in a safe, equitable and accessible way for all the patients across our area but has also had to ensure ongoing clinical care in each surgery by their GPs and nurses," said Dr Caron Morton, chair of the South West Shropshire Community Care Network and a partner at the GP surgery in Ludlow.

"Through a carefully planned and coordinated approach we have completed all our care homes within a two week period. Next week we shall embark on the mass vaccination programme in much the same way – through collaborative working, safe practice and minimal disruption to normal clinical care in our surgeries.

"I would like to extend the thanks of the board to our surgery teams and our patients who continue to work with us to see an end to the pandemic “

The South West Shropshire Primary Care Network starts its vaccination programme against Covid-19 for eligible patients from Thursday, January 28 and shall be vaccinating throughout the weekend of January 30.

It will be working together as a group of practices, from the Health and Wellbeing Centre in Church Stretton.

The team will be made up of GPs, nurses, health care assistants and administrative staff from all practices in Ludlow, Church Stretton, Craven Arms, Clun and Bishops Castle.

However they will still be running their normal practice surgeries.

The first cohort of patients will be the over 80s.

They will be receiving the Pfizer vaccine.

This cannot move from the site in Church Stretton to where it is being delivered and this is why appointments might be there instead of the normal GP practice.

All practices will start contacting the over 80s from Monday, January 25 to offer a date and a time for a vaccine appointment.

"Please come to that appointment and get your vaccine," said Dr Morton.

"The sooner you are vaccinated, the sooner we can protect your community

"We understand that some of our patients are housebound or will have insurmountable difficulties getting to Church Stretton. There is a smaller amount of the Astra Zeneca vaccine available which is easier to transport and take out to practices and into people’s homes

"There will be some vaccination appointments at your practice but as the bulk of the vaccination delivery is Pfizer, the majority of the vaccination programme to start with, will take place at Church Stretton."

As Pfizer stocks go down and Astra Zeneca supplies go up, practices will be able to deliver more vaccine locally.

However it is necessary to vaccinate the over 80s as quickly as possible in order to move onto the next cohort of patients vulnerable to complications from Covid-19.

Because there can be delays to deliveries of vaccines people are warned that appointments may have to be changed.