A new COVID vaccination centre will open in Verwood on Saturday 18th December.
It’s being led by GP Practices within the Crane Valley Primary Care Network (PCN), which consists of four practices in East Dorset: Barcellos Family Practice, The Cranborne Practice (including Lake Road Surgery), Verwood Surgery and West Moors Village Surgery.
Registered patients eligible for a COVID booster vaccine for whom it has been six months since their second dose will be contacted with an appointment offer.
Clinics will take place at The Crane Valley COVID Vaccination Centre, 131 Newtown Road, Verwood commencing 18th December (was originally planned for 4th January 2022).
The premises, located next door to the Lake Road Surgery in Verwood, are currently being refurbished along with provision of parking facilities for patients attending these clinics. Vaccines will be administered during pre-booked in-person appointments.
It is not practical to hold clinics as drive-throughs because anyone receiving the vaccine needs to be monitored for 15 minutes after vaccination.
Opening the Crane Valley COVID Vaccination Centre is expected to accelerate the delivery of booster vaccines to local patients with clinics scheduled over five days instead of the St Leonards Hospital clinics, which operate two days per week.
Patients should wait to be contacted with an appointment offered by their GP practices, initially by SMS Text message.
“We expect that all those eligible will be offered a top-up jab by the end of January,” says Dr Colin Davidson, Clinical Director for the site. “Vaccines are the best way to protect people against COVID-19. It’s absolutely crucial that everybody who is eligible gets their booster jab to top-up their immunity at the earliest opportunity, so we are delighted to be able to provide additional booster clinic capacity.”
Locally, the NHS priority remains to protect the most vulnerable first. The Crane Valley Centre will focus on ensuring that everyone over the age of 40 who had their second dose at least six months ago is offered a booster dose. The interval reduction to 3 months between doses will be introduced in due course, along with invitations to younger age groups.