More vaccine sites across Chichester district expected to become available in coming weeks | Gillian Keegan MP

Over the past week, we have received further clarification on the new vaccination sites going live in the district.

Centres in Selsey and Tangmere are going online this week and vaccinating those eligible on the Manhood Peninsular and the city of Chichester. Similarly, for more northern areas, the Riverbank Medical Centre will capture those in and around Midhurst.

I know there has been some concern locally about the time taken to get things up and running. This has been a massive logistical operation, and I know from the many meetings I have had with healthcare leaders there were some initial issues in finding appropriate venues, that have the necessary space to fulfil parking and security requirements.

It is expected we will have even more sites available over the coming weeks. I am keeping my website updated as things evolve – www.gilliankeegan.com/coronavirus-vaccine.

Nationally, big strides are being made with 2.3million people already vaccinated at the start of this week, a figure soon to be dwarfed by the Government’s ambitious target of vaccinating two million people per week by the end of the month.

This staggering effort is being supported by tens of thousands of healthcare professionals and many more volunteers helping to run the sites. In our area we’ve had a huge swell of support with over 2,000 volunteers already putting themselves forward to help in this national effort. If you too think you can help, please visit my website where there are links and information on how you can help.

There are people from many walks of life working seven days a week to get this programme up and running as rapidly as possible. I want to thank everyone who is doing so, especially our fantastic NHS staff and military personnel who are providing their significant logistical and operational expertise, under the leadership of Brigadier Prosser – who brought the scale of the work into context last week when he reminded us that the programme to date is ‘equivalent to setting up a major national supermarket chain in less than a month’.

Despite the harrowing scenes in our hospitals and the high case numbers, it does feel like the tide is turning – as finally, we have a weapon to defeat this virus. In the meantime, I urge all of you to stay home and follow the guidance, as although the end is in sight we are still very much in the midst of battle.

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