Frontline healthcare staff vaccinated as new centre opens

  • Watch a report from ITV News Anglia's Matthew Hudson here:

Covid-19 is still putting enormous pressure on our healthcare system - with reports that half of NHS staff off sick either have the virus or are self isolating.

So getting frontline staff vaccinated is a top priority - and a new centre in Suffolk is doing just that.

The first vaccination centre at Haverhill in Suffolk has opened - giving Covid jabs 12 hours a day seven days a week. Many are going to NHS staff working on the front line.

A snapshot taken on January 7th shows more than 10,200 NHS staff were off work in the eastern region. Nearly 6,000 of them because they had Covid or were isolating.

On 7th January:

  • 10,273 staff were off work in the East of England

  • 5,991 of those were off work due to Covid-19 or self isolation

Vaccination should bring those numbers down as well as giving staff confidence.

Vaccination centre Credit: ITV News Anglia

Research suggest cases may be dropping in our region with the R number below one. But it's not the case right across the east.

Meanwhile people from black and minority ethnic groups are being urged to take the jab when its offered - particularly those working in the health service.

The building housing Haverhill's new centre is perfect for the NHS. It's been lent free of charge until the summer by owners Oxford Innovations.

Private and public sectors working together to make sure there are NHS staff to help desperately ill victims of Covid.