Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine to be delivered from dedicated facility at Boots in Hartlepool

The Mail told last week how talks were underway for the vaccine to be given at one of the town’s three Boots pharmacies.

Now the company has confirmed that the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine will be rolled out from a specially designed facility at the Anchor Retail Park branch on Marina Way from Tuesday, March 9.

Store manager Rachel Meighan said: “Our pharmacy team are thrilled to have been selected as a Boots vaccination site in Hartlepool and are excited to get started.

"We are incredibly proud to support the NHS to deliver COVID-19 vaccinations to residents in the local community.

"Our store is conveniently located and accessible, and we look forward to welcoming patients to the store over the coming days and weeks, at the forefront of the nation’s vaccination efforts.”

It comes as the Hartlepool Mail and our publisher JPI Media has been calling for more community pharmacies to be allowed to provide the vaccines in our Shot In The Arm campaign.

A petition at change.org has been signed by more than 125,000 people and backed by local MPs including Hartlepool’s Mike Hill and Grahame Morris for Easington.

The campaign calls for all pharmacies to be used as part of the vaccine programme and for everyone to have the ability to get a jab within 10 minutes of their home by using the country’s great pharmacy network.

Boots opened its first vaccination site in Halifax in January, and now offers vaccinations at 15 of their pharmacies across England including Bluewater in Kent, Gloucester, Huddersfield, Liverpool and Southampton.

The retailer says it has extensive knowledge, experience and proven capability in vaccination services making it well placed to support the NHS in delivering the vaccine across the UK.

Patients will be invited directly by the NHS to book their vaccination appointment at the Hartlepool pharmacy.

Since last March Boots has also completed over 2.1 million Covid tests across the UK and in October launched a new in-store Covid-19 testing service which is now available in more than 100 UK stores.

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