Dear All,

As promised, we’re bringing you updates as and when we have them.

We can now say with certainty that it WON’T be the practice delivering the 16-64 At Risk (JCVI Category 6) vaccines, GG&C Board have decided that they will provide these vaccines to all eligible patients in GG&C.

The Board extracts data from our GP system, and are compiling a list of eligible patients and starting invitations. Their commitment is that by the end of March, all eligible patients will have been invited.

Health conditions prompting eligibility, as determined by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), include:

  • chronic respiratory disease, including COPD, cystic
  • fibrosis and severe asthma
  • chronic heart disease (and vascular disease)
  • chronic kidney disease
  • chronic liver disease
  • chronic neurological disease including epilepsy
  • Down’s syndrome
  • severe and profound learning disability
  • diabetes
  • solid organ, bone marrow and stem cell transplant recipients
  • people with specific cancers
  • immunosuppression due to disease or treatment
  • asplenia and splenic dysfunction
  • morbid obesity
  • severe mental illness
  • Peripheral Vascular Disease
  • Venous Thromboembolic Disease

In contrast to Flu vaccine eligibility, patients who are well controlled on asthma inhalers are not eligible in cohort 6 for Covid vaccination. Pregnant women have also been excluded.

We hope that keeping you informed of the process will help to allay concerns. Please be patient; for context, the number of patients in this cohort is more than the total number we’ve already vaccinated, so it is going to take time.

Stay Safe, Stay Well.