Posted 11 December 2020 - 11:35
Posted 11 December 2020 - 11:35
News
Nurse in COVID-19 high-risk group feels ‘privileged’ to receive vaccination
BAME nurse encourages colleagues to have COVID-19 vaccine and counter misconceptions
BAME nurse encourages colleagues to have COVID-19 vaccine and counter misconceptions on social media
Picture: Anna Lythgoe
A nurse in a high-risk group for COVID-19 says she feels ‘privileged’ to be one of the first to receive the vaccine.
Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust lead nurse for infection prevention and antimicrobial stewardship Kerry Holden received the recently approved Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine on 8 December.
‘Misconceptions on social media have really put people off’
She told Nursing Standard: ‘I feel absolutely privileged. It would be amazing to give a vaccine to everyone instantly, but obviously that is not possible.’
Ms Holden falls into a high-risk category as she is from a black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) background. She said she hopes her vaccination will encourage her BAME and non-BAME colleagues to be immunised, ‘because there are an awful lot of misconceptions on social media that have really put people off’.
Picture: Anna Lythgoe
Apart from an ‘achy arm, as you would get from your annual flu vaccine’, Ms Holden said she did not have any other side effects. ‘I had my jab and I was right back at work,’ she said.
But she emphasised that the need for social distancing and wearing personal protective equipment remains. ‘Until we have had a lot of people vaccinated everything will carry on as normal. It is the start; we can see the light at the end of the tunnel.’
Vaccination numbers across the UK
One week after the start of the vaccine programme almost 138,000 people in the UK have received the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.
England's minister for the COVID-19 vaccine deployment, Nadhim Zahawi, said a total of 137,897 people in the UK had received their first dose of the vaccine by the end of 15 December.
'A really good start to the vaccination programme. It's been seven days and we have done: England: 108,000 Wales: 7,897 Northern Ireland: 4,000 Scotland 18,000,' he said.
The Department of Health and Social Care said they were unable to provide what portion of these vaccine recipients were health and care workers but added more data will be published next week.
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