Leeds care home manager says Covid vaccine and testing are 'light at end of tunnel'

The Government's Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) - which advises ministers - has said that care home residents and staff should be prioritised after the UK approved the Pfizer/BioNTech.coronavirus vaccine.

The JCVI said the elderly are most at risk and should come first, followed by those aged 80 and above and frontline health workers, then younger age groups and the clinically

vulnerable.

Wendy Johnson, manager of Green Acres care home in Burmantofts, Leeds, said: "With the vaccine and the government supplying testing kits so we can test the relatives, it's like a light at the end of the tunnel for both residents and our relatives."

"I will be encouraging my staff and residents to take the vaccine.

"I have had phone calls from relatives who are really positive about it.

"When we get the vaccine we will get more information about it. It is a new vaccine, it is about getting the information and going through it and being able to answer questions that residents and staff may have.

"It is going to lift the residents' spirits when they are able to see their families again.

A spokesperson for Barchester Healthcare which runs Cookridge Court care home in north Leeds, said: “The news of the vaccine roll out has lifted everyone’s spirits and we stand ready to support in any way we can.

"Across all our homes and hospitals, there is a lot of planning and organising to do and we are awaiting guidance on how we need to configure our teams to best support the roll-out.

"We don’t yet know when the vaccine will arrive at our homes and if we will be involved delivering it, or whether centrally organised teams will arrive to deliver the vaccinations – but we will do all we can to make it work.

"Our teams have been magnificent in how they have risen to every challenge during this pandemic and we will be proud to play our part in this next phase to ensure the most vulnerable are protected.

"This news, we hope, will play an important role in the long road of life getting back to normal and our homes being filled with the buzz of visitors once again.”

Health Secretary Matt Hancock told MPs earlier this week delivery of the vaccine would be according to “clinical prioritisation and operational necessity because the need to hold it at -70C makes it particularly challenging to deploy.”

Asked if care home residents would start to get the vaccine next week, the Prime Minister’s spokesman said: “Yes, you have seen the prioritisation list with care home residents being right at the top of that list.”

The UK has ordered 40 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine, enough to vaccinate 20 million people with two doses, given 21 days apart.

Mr Hancock said 800,000 doses of the jab will arrive next week, with millions more arriving in the coming weeks.

The approved vaccine has been shown in studies to be 95 per cent effective and works in all age groups.

Meanwhile, more than a million lateral flow tests are being sent out to England's 385 biggest care homes as part of the first phase, the Government announced on Tuesday.

It will enable relatives of care home residents in all tiers to visit loved ones if they test negative and the home has no outbreak.

But no detail has yet been given on how soon smaller care homes will receive the kits.

More information is expected shortly.