400,000 jabs dished out at York's mass covid vaccination site
It's now been a year since a disused car park in York was turned into the Askham Bar covid centre
Last updated 7th Oct 2021
Over 400,000 coronavirus jabs have now been administered at the Askham Bar site in York.
The milestone comes in the week that Nimbuscare, which co-ordinates the city’s vaccination programme, celebrates its first anniversary.
A year ago, a group of York GP practices transformed a disused city car park into what was one of the largest vaccination centres in the UK.
Vaccinators have since been vaccinating up to 4,000 people per day and, to date, have delivered more than 400,000 vaccinations, equating to around one in every 250 vaccinations delivered nationally.
In addition to the clinicians, there are also 400 volunteers working to help deliver the covid vaccine to the Vale of York community.
Madeline Ruff, Chief Executive Officer for Nimbuscare, said:
“Looking back to last October when we started administering flu vaccinations from the Askham Bar site, it was almost impossible to imagine how instrumental it would become in the city’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic. It has been a real hub of activity, and our team of staff and volunteers there have coped admirably with everything that the pandemic has thrown at them.
“During the coming months we will, once again, be offering flu vaccinations and covid vaccination boosters from the site, but we also hope to use it to offer local people an even wider range of services, including health checks for adults and children with specific conditions. It’s also exciting to see it being used to highlight the many and varied exciting career opportunities available in the healthcare sector at our planned Careers Fair.
“In the longer-term, we’re on the look-out for a more permanent base from which we can offer these and many other services, but the York Vaccination Centre has played a hugely important role during the last year and we’re very grateful to our member GP practices, City of York Council and our many other partners for supporting us in our response to the pandemic and our efforts to give the people of York even greater access to primary healthcare services.”