We have received the following guidance from the Bedfordshire Clinical Commissioning Group (BCCG):

Vaccination Centres

On Saturday 9 January, national letters were sent to all people over 80, who lived within 45 minutes from a Centre, inviting them to call to make an appointment for their Covid-19 vaccination. The letters asked residents to book their appointment either by calling through to a national number, or visiting a website.

Residents in Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes were signposted to a regional vaccination centre at Robertson House in Stevenage, which is the first vaccination centre to open up in the East of England.

Residents do not have to attend this centre. There are vaccination centres closer to home in Bedford Borough, Central Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes, should residents wish to stay closer to home for their vaccination. It is just one of the ways you can get a vaccination that is being offered by the NHS.

It is understood that this has caused concern with residents locally and these concerns have been escalated to NHSE. Residents who wish to have their vaccination closer to home will be contacted by a GP to offer them a vaccination appointment. This might be at a local Primary Care Network site (which are sites operated by groups of GPs), or at a vaccination centre, as they open up in our area.

It is vital that while people await their vaccination they continue to maintain social distancing and hands, face, space.

2nd vaccination centre opens in Bedford

The second centre run by family doctors and their teams opens in Bedford on 14 January, as the roll out of the biggest vaccination programme in NHS history gains further momentum.

This means that all of the Primary Care Networks (PCN) in Bedford will have taken delivery and will start to deliver the vaccine to registered patients over 80.

Fully trained vaccinators will be administering the jab at Guru Nanak Gurdwara Temple in Ford End Road, Bedford, to ensure there is plenty of room for social distancing when waiting, as well as a recovery area, where people will be monitored for 15 minutes after the vaccination.

Vaccination Booking

In some areas in Bedford Borough, patients are being contacted by Bedoc, rather than their own GP surgery with an appointment.

This is an arrangement that has been agreed by some surgeries. These appointments are genuine, and any queries should be addressed to Bedoc, not a patient’s own surgery