Toby Perkins MP calls for Covid-19 vaccines to be redirected to Chesterfield amid supply and distribution concerns

The town’s MP said the Winding Wheel theatre and Wheatbridge Surgery were unable to carry out jabs on Wednesday and Thursday as they were ‘out of vaccines’.

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They are due to open again on Friday but worries have been raised about their allocation for next week.

On Thursday, Mr Perkins said: “Understandably everyone is impatient to get the vaccine – but public support for the vaccine programme will only last if people feel it is being done efficiently and fairly.

“There are still over-80s in Chesterfield waiting to be vaccinated but the centres have had to close due to lack of supply of the vaccines – while other areas are racing ahead with vaccinating more and more.

“The delays in our area are entirely due to the number of vaccines we receive and these are dictated by NHS England without any local input.

“The Government and NHS England should be redirecting vaccines and resources to the areas, such as Chesterfield, which still have over-80s needing the vaccine.

“I am calling on Nadhim Zahawi, the minister for Covid-19 vaccine deployment, to sort this out immediately.

“We have made such an effort to get our sites set up and have a brilliant team of staff and volunteers in place – but we need the vaccine supply now.

“There have been some local issues to contend with but the main barrier to hitting our targets remains the lack of supply and unfair distribution.”

Earlier, Health Secretary Matt Hancock revealed vaccine supplies to Yorkshire were being cut.

He said the region had vaccinated more people than other places and he wanted the roll-out to be ‘fair’.

The Derbyshire Times contacted NHS England about Mr Perkins’ concerns over vaccine supplies in Chesterfield but is yet to receive a response.

By February 15, the Government aims to have offered a first vaccine dose to everyone in the top four priority groups – care home residents and workers, NHS frontline staff, the over-70s and the extremely clinically vulnerable – which amounts to 13.9 million people across the UK.

In Derbyshire, this equals around 240,000 people.

According to NHS England figures released on Thursday, the total number of first doses administered by Joined Up Care Derbyshire up to January 17 was 67,010.

On Wednesday, Home Secretary Priti Patel told the BBC: “This is the largest mass vaccination programme our country has ever seen.

“There remains a long and difficult road ahead."

Ms Patel said Pfizer, which is producing one of the jabs being used in the UK, was upgrading its factories and changing its supply chains.

She added: “Of course that will inevitably have an implication in terms of the actual supply of the vaccine.

“We will see reconfiguarion of the supply chain.

“I think that is inevitable because of the demand domestically and internationally.”

MORE: Chesterfield MP concerned about people ‘jumping the queue’ for coronavirus jabs

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