Mansfield's Covid Vaccination Centre to close for seven of 14 days as staff move elsewhere

Mansfield’s Vaccination Centre will be closed for seven of the upcoming 14 days as staff are moved elsewhere, it has emerged.
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The centre at the former Wickes store on Chesterfield Road South in the town will be shut for seven separate days between Monday (June 28) and July 11.

However, health bosses have insisted its closure is not due to a vaccine supply – but due to staff being moved to other centres across Nottinghamshire where there is more demand.

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Speaking to journalists at a weekly Covid briefing, Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust’s chief executive John Brewin said: “We are aware. The most important thing is that this isn’t supply constraints. We have got sufficient vaccines right across our system.

'The big jab weekend - walk-in Covid-19 jabs for all eligible adults will be available across Nottighamshire from Friday, June 25, to Monday, June 28.'The big jab weekend - walk-in Covid-19 jabs for all eligible adults will be available across Nottighamshire from Friday, June 25, to Monday, June 28.
'The big jab weekend - walk-in Covid-19 jabs for all eligible adults will be available across Nottighamshire from Friday, June 25, to Monday, June 28.

"Specifically to do with Mansfield and with all our centres, we have a relatively fixed resource of staff that we have to deploy to keep as many sites open as possible - and we are also informed by bookings in any particular area.

"So if a particular site has relatively few bookings and we have relatively fixed amounts of staff then we will deploy them where they can be most fully used and provide the most vaccines.

"There will always be sites open and we will ensure we continue to publicise opening and closing times.

"It’s not due to concerns or lack of vaccine supply."

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The news comes as as the ‘Big Vaccination Weekend’ got underway across the county – including in Mansfield and Ashfield – as the drive to get more people vaccinated is stepped up.

It has been designed to urge all over-18 adults yet to be vaccinated against the virus to get their jabs at sites across the county – including at the Mansfield Vaccination Centre, King’s Mill Hospital’s education centre in Sutton and Ashfield Health Village on Portland Street, Kirkby.

Speaking about the Mansfield centre, Jonathan Gribbin, director of Public Health for Nottinghamshire, also stressed that ‘clearly supply is not the key constraint here’.

"What I'm most concerned about for people across Nottinghamshire is demand for the vaccine,” he said.

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"We’ve seen fantastic numbers of people coming forward. For those people who for whatever reason have found themselves too busy or hesitant, we’re wanting to make sure that we put everything in place possible to support them and give full consideration to the benefits of the vaccine.

"I’m really pleased the Big Weekend we’re running will be laying on GPs at sites who can spend a bit of time with people talking through and questions and concerns they might have."

More than 1.1 milion people in Nottinghamshire have so far had their Covid-19 vaccine – with 480,000 of those being second doses.

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Meanwhile as of Friday, the Covid-19 case rate per 100,000 in Nottinghamshire stood at 72.8 – lower than the England figure of 101.

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Mansfield’s rate was 33, Newark & Sherwood’s 45 and Ashfield’s 52.

“They are increasingly driven by numbers among younger people, young adults up to the age of 40, all of whom are disproportionately represented in our numbers in the county,” said Mr Gribbin.

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