The man in charge of York’s vaccination programme is confident that all adults will have had at least one jab by the start of July.
And it could be even earlier.
Dr Mike Holmes, chair of Nimbuscare, the primary care group overseeing the vaccination programme in the city, told YorkMix Radio that there were no issues with supply of the Covid-19 vaccine.
At present the Askham Bar hub has supplies of the Pfizer, AstraZeneca and Moderna vaccines.
“The supply is good, our fridges are full, he told Ben Fry on the breakfast show. And that means we can we can move forward.
“So I’m really optimistic. The deadline the government set for vaccinating all eligible adults once was 31 July.
“So as we come to the end of May, I’m really confident that we’re going to get to that landmark well in advance of 31July.
“In fact, I suspect it’s going to be towards the end of June or very early in July – which actually is great news.
“To get to everybody once, to get into the second doses, and hopefully fully protect everyone over 18 in the UK – that’s a that’s a phenomenal achievement.”
It comes after the Askham Bar site broke all previous records at the weekend, by delivering more than 12,000 vaccinations across Friday to Saturday – which he called “a phenomenal effort”.
‘Let’s be nice to each other’
Dr Holmes also appealed for people to treat the staff and volunteers undertaking the vaccination programme with respect.
Earlier this week, Nimbuscare had Tweeted: “We appreciate people are anxious, but some visitors have been rude and disrespectful to our staff and we will not accept this kind of behaviour.”
He said that his team “can’t do everything for everyone. Ultimately, they’re human beings in the same way that patients with human beings.
“We just need to understand that. And I just call for people to be respectful.
“The health service was not perfect before the pandemic. And it’s definitely not perfect now. But it is what it is – we have what we have in terms of the resources that we work with.
“And our people are our biggest resource. So let’s look after them. Let’s be nice to each other, respectful to each other. And we’ll make this work moving forward.”