COVID-19 vaccine programme now live in Reading

COVID-19 VACCINATION - ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW

Getting your COVID-19 vaccination can protect you and may help to protect your family and those you care for. The COVID-19 vaccine should help reduce the rates of serious illness and save lives, and reduce pressure on the NHS and social care services.

Patients are being prioritised for the vaccine according to the national criteria:

Residents in a care home for older adults and their carers
All those 80 years of age and over and frontline health and social care workers
All those 75 years of age and over
All those 70 years of age and over and clinically extremely vulnerable individuals
All those 65 years of age and over
All individuals aged 16 years to 64 years with underlying health conditions which put them at higher risk of serious disease and mortality
All those 60 years of age and over
All those 55 years of age and over
All those 50 years of age and over

More information about the prioritisation criteria is available here.

When it is your turn to receive the vaccine you will be contacted by the NHS directly. You may receive a letter, phone call, text message or email, so keep an eye out. Please don't contact your GP to request a vaccination.

As with many vaccines, for the COVID-19 jab to be most effective people will need to have two doses. These can be up to 12 weeks apart and people will be called for their second dose at the right time. You should get vaccinated even if you have previously had COVID-19 as the protection the vaccine gives is likely to be greater and longer lasting than that created by the body's response to being infected.

You may experience mild side effects such as:

having a painful, heavy feeling and tenderness in the arm where you had your injection.
feeling tired
headaches
general aches, or mild flu like symptoms

Due to the urgency of the pandemic, the vaccine has been developed quickly. However it has passed all of the tests needed for any new drug or medicine to ensure it is safe. The vaccine developers followed well-established processes for clinical trials involving thousands of people who were closely monitored for side effects with no serious ill effects noted. The vaccine was then thoroughly assessed by the Medicine and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHPRA) which is the UK medicines regulator.

The vaccine uses the virus’s genetic code to make your body's cells create a protein that looks like COVID-19. This then allows your body's immune system to develop the response cells ready to fight off the infection if you catch it at another time. The COVID-19 vaccine does not contain the live COVID-19 virus (so you cannot catch Coronavirus from the vaccine), and it does not contain any animal products or egg.

Having the vaccine is your choice. If you have any questions or concerns about the vaccine and your health, you should talk to your GP or another healthcare professional.

On Friday (22 January) a new local walk-though COVID-19 testing site opens at Prospect Park car park – helping local residents get easier access to testing.

The local testing site is pedestrian access only and easily accessible without a car, if you’re being tested you’ll be required to social distance, not travel by taxi or public transport and wear a face covering throughout (including travelling to and from the testing centre).

The Prospect Park site has previously been used as a mobile testing site several days a month since October 2020.

These new testing facilities are expected to be in place seven days a week, 8am to 8pm, for the next three to six months, testing will be for pre-booked appointments only so please don’t turn up without an appointment as you won’t be able to be tested.

Most people with Coronavirus will have at least one of the following symptoms; high temperature, new continuous cough, loss or change to sense of smell or taste. No matter how mild your symptoms, please get a test as soon as symptoms begin. COVID-19 tests should be booked at nhs.uk/coronavirus, by calling 119 or via the NHS COVID-19 app. You can expect your result the next day if you are tested at a local testing site.

Anyone attending an appointment at a walk-through testing centre will be provided with guidance at the time of booking on getting to and from the test site safely.

Infection rates are high across Reading and it’s vital you get a test if you have COVID-19 symptoms, however mild - to help stop the spread of the virus. After your test please make sure you isolate and continue to isolate as per NHS requirements if you receive a positive test result, to reduce and prevent transmission of the virus in our community

Residents who are unable to walk to the local testing sites at Prospect Park and the University of Reading London Road campus for a COVID-19 test, will be able to request a home testing kit is sent to them or provided with options of their nearest drive-through test site at the time of booking a test.

Limited parking will be available at Prospect Park car park for visitors to the park for exercise during lockdown and the recycling bottle banks will be available and will be relocated within the car park.