The NHS is currently offering the COVID-19 vaccine to people most at risk from coronavirus including residents and staff in care homes.
Tanya Tutton, who works as a Homemaker at Verwood House Care Home, said this was the moment both residents and staff had been waiting for and they could not wait to open their doors to the NHS vaccination team this week.
She said: “Everyone feels so much more positive now. We know we still have a long way to go as a country, but this is certainly a start.
“We are particularly pleased for the residents who have been so patient for so long after having their lives turned upside down. Now, after receiving the jab, they can look forward to hugging their loved ones again in the not-too-distant future and enjoying some kind of normality.
“There was certainly a collective sigh of relief when we started to see the vaccinations being given to residents and that was quite emotional.
“As care staff we work very closely with residents and we now have some comfort that the vaccine gives us strength to fight this nasty virus, protecting us as well as the people we care for.
“This will enable us to more confidently do the jobs we love so much, caring for some of society’s most vulnerable people.”
More than two million people in the UK have now been vaccinated with the Pfizer/BioNTech and Oxford University/AstraZeneca vaccines since the vaccination programme began in December 2020 and the early new year after regulators approved them for use.
A third vaccine, the Moderna vaccine, has also just been approved and is expected to be rolled out later this spring. The Government has promised to establish more than 2,700 vaccine sites across the UK in a giant effort to vaccinate the country.
The UK regulator and joint committee on Vaccination and Immunisation have assessed the vaccines to be safe and able to offer a high level of protection against becoming severely unwell with Coronavirus.
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