The vaccinations team at NHS NW London have been at the centre of the vaccines response since the first Covid-19 vaccine was given in December 2020, two years ago. Since then the operations team has worked relentlessly under evolving circumstances and new virus outbreaks, to tackle daily challenges and provide the infrastructure to vaccinate and protect the public.
Covid-19
Since the vaccine was first given in the UK in December 2020, NHS NW London has delivered almost five million vaccinations to people in NW London aged 5 and upwards.
Here are a few facts and figures about the size of the operation;
- Ten Large vaccination centres were set up to acts as vaccination hubs.
- At its peak, on average the NW London team were vaccinating about 1,500 people per day at each site
- The number of staff employed on the programme team to implement the vaccine programme, including vaccinators, clinical staff, administrators and logistical teams totalled 5,000 at the height of the outbreak.
At the same time, roving teams visited care homes in NW London to ensure that elderly residents and their carers were offered vaccine protection as a priority. In the last 3 months, the Roving team have visited 119 care homes vaccinating over 2,500 residents and staff.
As well as the main vaccine hubs, the roving team set up approximately 67 pop up sites across the area to deliver vaccines in a more flexible and accessible way for North West London residents by bringing the vaccine to their door. Sites were diverse to appeal to a wide range of people and included supermarkets, churches, gurdwaras, mosques, temples, shopping centres, department stores like Primark and even nightclubs!
To bolster the national vaccination drive, the team put on a number of mass vaccination events. We used our relationships with sports teams in the area to put on large sale events at Twickenham stadium, Chelsea Football Club and Wembley Stadium. Substantial media coverage of the events meant that all attracted large numbers of people which gained lots of media coverage. In total, the large events vaccinated 27,100 people with Twickenham, the largest event, managing to vaccinate around 11, 400people in one day. The Chelsea event drew huge queues of people wanting to get their vaccination, including members of the Chelsea FC squad.
To date, the vaccination programme has immunised almost 5 million people in NW London.
Polio
Following the discovery of Polio in London’s water supply in June 2022 the vaccination team quickly set up clinics to provide accessible vaccinations for all young children in NW London.
Since the outset of the programme, the North West London ICB have so far delivered 74,917 vaccinations to 1 to 9 year olds.
In addition to the three main clinics at CP House, Brent Civic Centre and 145 King Street (now closed) there were nine community pharmacies spread across the NW area offering polio vaccinations. Several outreach events have also been providing the Polio vaccine. CP House, the largest vaccination centre, to date has vaccinated 8046 5 to 9 year olds against polio.
Outreach and the Health Hopper
In July 2022, the vaccinations team added the Health Hopper bus to the fleet of vaccine buses, visiting hot spots around the area. Branded in child friendly Aggie the Alien imagery, it offers vaccinations for children (and adults), but also provides important outreach services, as part of the Make Every Contact Count initiative to provide health advice for visiting members of the community.
Working closely with NHSE/I and Royal Volunteer Service, the Outreach team provided a family offer delivering COVID and polio vaccinations as well as providing MECC services.
Recently, the Health Hopper was in Trafalgar Square at the Mayor of London’s 'Diwali in the Square' event on Sunday 9th October 2022, where the team delivered 54 Adult Boosters, 3 Paediatric vaccinations and 6 MECC consultations.
Monkeypox
During 2022, the UK faced an outbreak of Monkeypox with the majority of cases in London. The team were stood up to provide safe routes for people to be tested and vaccinated against the virus.
Diphtheria
The unfortunate situation of housing asylum seekers in hotel camps has led to an increased risk of disease and in particular, diphtheria was detected among refugees living in NW London.
The vaccinations team mobilised operations at short notice to go into hotels, administering antibiotics and vaccines to treat infections and prevent spread. In the first weekend alone, the team managed to vaccinate over 400 people for Diphtheria and Covid. In three weeks the Roving team have assisted 763 asylum seekers. The work with asylum seekers continues to be part of the Roving delivery.