People attending Cornwall Pride in Newquay urged to grab a Covid jab
A walk-in coronavirus vaccination centre is being held across the weekend in the town centre
People attending Cornwall Pride are being urged to grab a coronavirus jab.
The three-day Rainbow Fest event is kicking off in Newquay today (Friday 27th August).
NHS vaccinators will be offering walk-in Covid vaccinations during the celebrations.
Anyone attending Pride on Friday, Saturday (28 August) and Sunday (29 August) who is 16 years or older and has not had their jab or who is 18 or older who has had their first dose 8 weeks before can grab a jab at the event.
Vaccinators will be based around the Killacourt area between midday and 6pm on the Friday and Sunday, and will be open even longer on Saturday - between 10am and 7pm, which is Pride’s main day of activities and includes the fantastic parade.
Tracey Hembrough, from the Atlantic Medical Group, and her team of vaccinators are delighted to team up with Pride organisers.
She said: “We’d like to thank the Pride team for welcoming us to join the event and offering us the opportunity to make getting the COVID vaccine as easy as possible for everyone who has yet to have the jab.
“We’re really looking forward to being part of such a colourful celebration and meeting lots of people who want to protect themselves, their loved ones, friends and colleagues, and help get Cornwall back to normal as soon as possible.
“By having both doses of the vaccine people will have the best protection against COVID and its severe symptoms which can potentially result in needing hospital care.
“We want people to have and wear their COVID vaccine with Pride.”
Matthew Kenworthy Gomes, Pride chairperson, said: “We are really pleased to welcome Tracey and her team of vaccinators to Pride. We are aware that uptake of the vaccine is lower across marginalised communities for many reasons.
“We also know that in and around Newquay there are many young people who are working in hospitality who have yet to have had the opportunity or time to take up the vaccine so while they’re enjoying Pride, we’d like them to take up the offer of a jab from Tracey and her team.
“Our hope is that as Cornwall unites to recognise that we all want the same when it comes to recognising diversity and accepting our differences, we are also united in recognising that we want to protect ourselves and each other and to return to getting back to things we love and enjoy as safely as possible."
The NHS Kernow team is also attending the Pride event on Saturday and will be based around the Killacourt area.
The team will be providing details of what services to use and reminding people to only call 999 or go to A&E if you have a life-threatening condition like a heart attack or a stroke.