January 5, 2021 11.56 am This story is over 38 months old

New Oxford COVID-19 vaccine coming to Lincolnshire this week

The first dose will be from Boston

| Photo: PA/Pool/Reuters
By Local Democracy Reporter

Lincolnshire is among the first counties in the UK to be offered the newly approved Oxford vaccine for coronavirus.

The Oxford University/AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine was approved for use from Monday, January 4, and will be distributed to hospital trusts in the coming days.

Much like the Pfizer vaccine, United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust is again among the first trusts in the country to be offered the vaccination.

It will initially be administered from Pilgrim Hospital in Boston, with the first dose going to an intensive care doctor on Tuesday, January 5.

It comes after the country was placed in a national lockdown as of January 5, in response to rising cases and the growing threat of a new COVID-19 variant.

Over 7,000 doses of the vaccine are expected to arrive at GP surgeries across the county this week, on top of more than 6,000 Pfizer vaccines administered in Lincolnshire so far.

United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust has assured that people will be vaccinated “at the earliest opportunity.”

A spokesperson for ULHT said: “Following the announcement that the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine has been approved, the NHS in Lincolnshire is pleased to be working with colleagues across the county to ensure increased availability of the COVID-19 vaccine.”

The Oxford vaccine does not need to be stored at a temperature as cold as the Pfizer one, making distribution and delivery far easier and more accessible.

82-year-old Brian Pinker was the first person in the UK to receive the Oxford vaccine, and more than half a million doses are now ready to be rolled out nationally.