‘THOUSANDS’ of people in Royal Borough have been vaccinated, councillors heard at an outbreak engagement board meeting.
Caroline Farrar, executive place managing director at Frimley Collaborative for the Royal Borough, told members at the meeting on February 15 that “many of thousands” of people in the area have received their Covid-19 jab.
She also said everyone in cohorts one to four have been offered a vaccine at one of the Royal Borough’s three vaccination sites and Slough’s mass site.
On wastage, Ms Farrar told councillors the borough’s level is “very, very tiny” and they are not throwing any vaccines away.
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She said: “You may get a dropped vial or an accident – but we’re not having levels of wastage.
“We do have call-off lists – but they should be within the cohorts, not just anybody because our key priority is to maximise the uptake in those cohort groups that form 99 per cent of the at-risk population.”
Councillor John Story (Con: Ascot & Sunninghill) asked if the vaccination centre at the Waitrose sports club in Bracknell will move somewhere else.
Ms Farrar said there are no plans to move away from that site as there’s good uptake from Ascot residents.
Vaccines administered at Waitrose HQ
Currently, the Royal Borough has two rapid test centres in Windsor and Maidenhead – which test people who are asymptomatic, meaning they don’t show coronavirus symptoms.
A member of the public asked if this would be extended to Ascot so people don’t have to travel miles to the nearby Windsor site.
David Scott, the council’s head of communities and spearheading the testing roll-out in the borough, said there are currently no plans to open a site in the south corner – but have made arrangements with Bracknell Forest Council to enable Royal Borough residents in Ascot to use their venues.
READ MORE: Coronavirus in Berkshire round up - Monday, February 15
According to latest figures published by NHS England, Frimley Health and Care ICS, which oversees Frimley, Wexham, and Heatherwood hospitals, have collectively vaccinated over 126,200 people as of February 11.
Nearly 32,000 of over 80s and 44,391 under 70s have received their first jab.
In total, the South East has vaccinated nearly 1.8 million people so far.
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