Sheffield Health and Social Care NHS Foundation Trust (SHSC) has begun delivering COVID-19 boosters to all of its staff in a full scale roll out.

COVID-19 vaccinations began for all SHSC staff on Monday at a dedicated vaccination hub due to vaccinate 100s of people a week.

The Trust’s three care homes have also been prioritised for onsite vaccinations due to the residents being among the most at risk from COVID-19.

Birch Avenue at Burncross welcomed GPs from Mill Road Surgery to vaccinate residents and staff alike. Residents at Birch Avenue have complex needs so they receive specialist support from staff at the home. The nursing home is run by Sheffield Health and Social Care NHS Foundation Trust.

Emily Blakeman, Clinical Manager at Birch Avenue, said: “Vaccinations are so important for us to protect each other and our service users. At Birch Avenue our service users are really vulnerable so I want my teams to do everything they can to stop the spread of Covid-19 in our tight community. I also want to protect my family, I’ve got a little girl and rely on family to help me with childcare so I really don’t want to take COVID-19 home and infect them too.

“Getting the boosters has been just another step on our journey of living with COVID-19 and I am so proud of us all for doing everything we can to help tackle this devasting virus.”

And vaccinator Amy Whitely, a clinical nurse specialist, working in the staff vaccination hub said: “Getting the COVID and Flu vaccinations is so important to help reduce the spread of the viruses, to help protect our vulnerable patients and to protect ourselves and our loved ones. Committing to 15 minutes out of your day to come and get the booster could make all the difference.”

All staff at SHSC are being offered vaccinations over the next month to protect each other, service users and our wider community.