Covid jabs to be given at Milton Keynes pharmacies to speed up rollout programme

Life-saving coronavirus jabs will be delivered at six High Street pharmacies across Milton Keynes from next week and it is hoped more will follow suit.

The news comes after the MK Citizen, along with its sister titles across the UK, launched a campaign challenging Boris Johnson to ensure that every resident is only a short walk away from a vaccine centre. You can see our story here.

This week seven community pharmacies in Bedford became the first to offer vaccinations protecting against Covid-19. Next week will see a further 22 outlets join the scheme in Luton and Milton Keynes.

The six in MK are Jardines at Brooklands, Jardines at Neath Hill, Jardines at Oakridge Park, McLaren Pharmacy in New Bradwell, Willen Pharmacy and Woburn Sands Pharmacy. All will start providing the service from next Monday, June 7.

The owner of the local Jardines pharmacy chain, Mr Has Modi, featured in the Citizen's campaign.

He said at the time: "The provision of Covid Vaccination is hugely important issue at this present time – socially and economically. We as pharmacy sector with a network of 11,400 community settings in England have been fighting to be able to vaccinate our respective communities."

He added: "We are ready and raring to go."

The Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes Clinical Commissioning Group says the pharmacies were selected because they are capable of delivering large volumes, while allowing for social distancing.

Fiona Garnett, associate director of medicines optimisation for the CCG, said: “Pharmacies are at the heart of our local communities and the introduction of these new sites will make a big difference to our rollout programme by providing even more local, convenient places for those that are eligible to get their jab.

“We know that patients will value this and that pharmacies can continue to make a significant contribution to the national vaccination efforts.”

Currently it is the turn of people aged 30 and over to book their vaccines. They will now have the option of attending Saxon Court or a neighbouring large-scale vaccination centre, a GP-led site or one of the participating pharmacies.

In order to book a jab at these new pharmacy sites, residents can access the National Booking System via nhs.uk/covid-vaccination. People can book both jabs at the same time.

Anyone unable to go online can call the service for free on 119 for extra support in doing so. The phone line is available from 7am until 11pm each day.