Community groups, clinicians and volunteers have been praised for their efforts alongside GP practices and staff as the coronavirus vaccine rollout continues in a coastal town.
With tens of thousands of residents having been vaccinated across Norfolk and Waveney, "new cohorts" of people in the next priority groups will be vaccinated in the Lowestoft area from next week.
It comes as the Covid-19 vaccination programme in the Lowestoft area is "going well" with most of the people aged over 80, residents in care homes, care home workers and vulnerable NHS staff having received vaccinations since mid-December.
Clive Sillitoe, practice manager at Bridge Road Surgery in Oulton Broad, is helping to co-ordinate the vaccination programme in the Lowestoft area.
He said: “The Covid-19 vaccination programme is going well and we are expecting that most of the over 80s, care homes and care home workers in the Lowestoft area will have received vaccinations against Covid-19 by the end of this week.
"We will be starting with new cohorts next week.
“We would like to take this opportunity to thank the Lowestoft Lions and other local volunteers and clinicians that have played a part in the programme to date.
"We would also like to thank the Lowestoft GP practices and staff that have worked together to make this happen.”
With 21 GP-led sites vaccinating patients against Covid-19 across Norfolk and Waveney, this includes four sites in the Great Yarmouth and Waveney area - at Kirkley Mill Surgery in Lowestoft, Sole Bay Health Centre in Southwold, Falkland Surgery in Bradwell and the Park Surgery in Great Yarmouth.
A spokesman for NHS Norfolk and Waveney Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) said: “These GP sites are acting as ‘primary care hubs’; vaccinating patients registered with their own practice as well as patients from other neighbouring practices.
“The James Paget University Hospital is also vaccinating those who are eligible in the area, and on Tuesday it was announced that Hayden Chemists in Bridge Road, Lowestoft, will be one of the first two community pharmacies in Suffolk to provide vaccines to their local communities.
“More vaccination sites are due to open in the coming weeks as more vaccine becomes available.
“We would like to remind local people to please be patient and not to contact their GP practice, pharmacy or other NHS services about an appointment.
"You will be contacted as soon as it’s your turn.
"Please do not attend a vaccination site without an appointment."
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here