Covid vaccines: Lancashire races ahead of target, but will it have to wait for other areas to catch up?

That would mean the county had invited people in all nine of the government’s priority groups for a jab – including everyone over 16 with an underlying health condition – around a month ahead of the target time set by ministers.

Details emerged at a meeting of Lancashire County Council’s internal scrutiny committee, where it was also revealed that Preston and Burnley are set to get their own mass Covid vaccination centres within weeks.

Blackpool’s Winter Gardens and Lancaster Town Hall are opening as mass vaccination sites as of Monday, with a facility at Blackburn Cathedral already in operation.

READ MIORE >>> Could Lancashire set its own vaccine priorities after the mist vulnerable have had the jab? .

Cabinet member for health and wellbeing Shaun Turner welcomed the fact that the county was “performing well” in deploying the vaccine.

“Early-mid March, it’s predicted we’ll have all over-50s done, which is really good,” he said.

The meeting also heard that all care home residents in Lancashire are due to be vaccinated by this Sunday – in line with the government’s target – with the only exceptions being those living in residences where there is currently an outbreak.

County Cllr Turner said “special measures” will be put in place to ensure that those vaccines can be administered as soon as possible.

Committee member Steve Holgate questioned whether there was a risk that the county could become “a victim of our own success” if its speedy deployment of the vaccine resulted in doses being redistributed to other areas that had not had such a flying start.

It was reported earlier this week that the Yorkshire and North East region was to have its vaccine supply halved to allow other areas to catch up.

“I think our public needs to know that [might be] the case, so that there are no false expectations and we can understand the reasons why there may be a slowdown,” said County Cllr Holgate, who added that it would be “the right thing to do”.

However, County Cllr Turner said Lancashire’s performance so far should put it in good stead for supplies, because the county was seen as “standing ready” – although he admitted it would be operating at the margins in the coming weeks.

“What [the government] don’t want to do is to give it to people who aren’t quite ready and haven’t got the logistics in place, because they don’t want to waste [it].

“We’re running it tight, but this should improve going forward – I’ve not heard anything to the contrary as yet.

“At the moment… doing well is not holding us back, because we’re showing we can use that vaccine when it comes in,” he added.

In a statement issued after the meeting, Jane Scattergood, Covid-19 vaccination director for the Lancashire and South Cumbria integrated care system (ICS) said:

“As the expansion of the Covid vaccination programme continues to gather pace, we are planning to open large-scale sites in Preston and Burnley in the coming weeks.

“GPs, nurses, pharmacists, other staff, and volunteers are working hard behind the scenes to get the sites ready.

“As with other vaccination services, people should wait to be invited by the NHS.”

“The rollout of the vaccine and establishing these sites involves a wide range of organisations working together.

“We need to thank the significant support to the NHS to deliver the Covid vaccination programme from our wider partners, including Cumbria County Council, Lancashire County Council, Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council, Blackpool Council, our district councils, the military, police, local businesses and many more,” Ms. Scattergood added.

ARMY APPEAL

Lancashire County Council has asked the army to remain in the county for a further fortnight to help it continue to roll out its rapid-turnaround Covid testing programme.

Forty teams of military personnel began to deliver targeted “lateral flow” testing to workforces at large employment sites last month and the scheme is currently being extended to some community locations.

The number of teams has recently halved to 20, with all of them set to depart by 6th February.

However, the county has requested that they stay for another two weeks in order to help equip people with the skills to continue the programme when they do finally leave..

“The military helped us get it going – but more latterly, they have been upskilling people to carry out the testing programme and we are rapidly trying to recruit people to step into that space,” County Cllr Turner said.