One year, 243,000 vaccines
It’s been one year since the vaccination team at Barts Health and our local partners rallied together to provide Covid-19 vaccines to the people of east London and beyond. In that time, Barts Health and our partners have delivered an incredible 243,000 vaccines and to mark occasion we look back over the last year.
Chapter 1: A new hope
In January 2021, having already begun vaccinating staff at our hospitals, we opened the NHS Covid-19 vaccination centre at ExCeL London, one of the original large-scale vaccination centres in the UK – and one of the largest. A true collaborative effort between various groups including the London Ambulance Service, St. John Ambulance, Barts Health Volunteers and staff at ExCeL London, hundreds of people from all over London and beyond were vaccinate there every day.
In fact, in the six months that the centre was open, the team delivered a whopping 130,000 vaccines!
On top of delivering vaccines at the centre, the team regularly left the halls of ExCeL London to bring vaccines to people in their local communities via outreach clinics. The clinics aimed to vaccinate hard to reach communities and encourage community members to take up the offer of a Covid-19 vaccine, clinics were set up in local hospices, gurdwaras, mosques and other community centres to provide the vaccines in a more convenient, familiar location. Additionally, the outreach clinics were an opportunity for pharmacists and other experts to offer advice to people who had not yet made up their mind about getting vaccinated.
Chapter 2: The journey continues
The Barts Health vaccines journey continued with the opening of the vaccination centre on The Street in Westfield, Stratford. This time, the challenge was different. The vaccines were being offered to younger people, some of whom needed encouragement to avail of the vaccine. In the three months that the centre was open, they delivered an impressive 39,000 Covid-19 vaccines.
The team continued their work to provide information and support to people unsure about being vaccinated and maintined their work in local communities via out-reach clinics. One such event included contributing to an event at West Ham football stadium.
Chapter 3: Preparing for winter and the future
Following the closure of the vaccination centre in September, our vaccination team was met with a new challenge. Winter was fast approaching and the team needed to protect colleagues against Covid-19 and flu.
To meet this need, flu and Covid-19 vaccine hubs and roving clinics were set up at each of our hospitals across Barts Health. In addition, a huge range of support resources were produced to help colleagues make an informed choice about getting vaccinated, ranging from information webinars to anonymous Q&As and posters.
In December we also rejoined the national effort to vaccinate the public, opening up vaccine hubs at Whipps Cross and Newham hospitals offering first, second and booster vaccines to staff and public. We are always exploring ways to support the community and are looking to further expand our outreach service in partnership with north east London.
Commenting on the achievements of the past year, Fiona Ashworth, group director of vaccines at Barts Health, said:
“It’s a really proud moment to be able to look back on everything we’ve achieved over the last year, especially while navigating the peaks and troughs of the Covid-19 pandemic. Every single member of the vaccine team was united in our efforts, despite managing so many other priorities, to help make this programme a success. I look forward to continuing our work in 2022.”
Alwen Williams, group chief executive of Barts Health, said:
“It’s been a tremendous achievement, and I have been blown away by the team work between the vaccination team and our local partners. The programme has made an invaluable contribution to our staff and the communities in east London. I’m very proud of everything they have done.”
Our vaccine journey at Barts Health is not yet over and we remain committed to vaccinating our remaining colleagues and community members against Covid-19.