Sheffield GP gives Covid vaccinations update as more surgeries start giving coronavirus jabs

Vaccinations began this week at GP surgeries nationally, following the initial roll-out at hospitals in Sheffield and elsewhere in the country.

Dr Ollie Hart, who is a partner at Sloan Medical Centre in Meersbrook, today gave an update about how vaccinations were going so far.

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Speaking to Paulette Edwards on BBC Radio Sheffield this morning, he said: “There have been three sites in general practices in Sheffield already that have delivered a batch of vaccines, nearly a thousand vaccines each.

"There are another three going live on Monday, and the rest of the GP practices will be going live just after Christmas, so it’s all happening and GPs and their managers and their teams are working like crazy to set it all up.”

Asked whether some people were sceptical about the vaccine he said: “It’s been really well tested. Tens of thousands of people have had it. You might get a little bit of a sore arm or feel slightly under the weather for a day at the very most but most people are absolutely fine with it. We know it’s really, really safe.”

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Although two people elsewhere in the coutry had allergic reactions to the vaccine, he said those people were ‘very susceptible to allergies’ and they had a brief reaction but were ‘absolutely fine’.

Asked whether vitamin D offered protection against Covid-19, he said the evidence was ‘really mixed’ but that in the winter people often get lower levels of vitamin D which he said ‘can affect you’.

He explained that doctors often recommend vitamin D supplements anyway in the winter for people who are darker skinned and might not get so much sunlight, so if you are in that group it was ‘not a bad idea’ to buy them over the counter.

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Dr Hart added that it was important for communities to stick together and support one another, which could include giving older people a lift to the vaccine centre.

"It’s not just about the vaccine, it’s about how we look after each other and how as communities we club together,” he said.