‘Smiles and tears’ as Buxton surgery rolls out Covid-19 vaccine

Henry Mellor, 95, told how had been ‘in since March, I’ve never been out’, adding: “I’m hoping it will allow me to get out and about again.”

While others spoke of planning get togethers with family and friends - particularly grandchildren.

Buxton Medical Practice began delivering the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine today (Friday) - continuing on Saturday and Sunday between 8am and 6.30pm.

Henry said: “I never felt a thing - it was better than when I joined the Navy in 1943.

The great-grandfather-of-13 told how his only contact with younger family members during the pandemic had been when they waved through the window.

He said: “Of course you miss them - I miss them more than meals and I hope to see them in person soon.

“Once it’s all done there’ll be another big dinner somewhere.”

Jose Cusco, 83, said: “I was waiting for the jab - everyone has to have it otherwise this will never go away. It’s the one solution.

“I live on my own anyway and when I go out I go to Solomon’s Temple where I can get away from everybody.

“After the second injection I may feel safer in crowds but not yet.”

John Newton, 83, said he had been shielding since March - which he described as ‘boring’.

He said: “I don’t find it any great burden, it’s just boring really. But I do miss my social activities and volunteering jobs - I miss those because they’re my social contact.”

John, who is chairman of a charity for the deaf and runs a U3A group, said: “A realistic time to get back to normal is probably mid-summer.

“But that’s a massive difference because I’ve been frankly terrified of this pandemic because it could kill me and I don’t want to die yet even though I’m fairly ancient.

“My sympathies through all this have been with people who can’t work and therefore have no income - or very little.

“For old codgers like us it’s just another threat of death which you get used to.”

David Ramczyk, 66, was at the practice today volunteering - helping out by marshalling traffic into the car park.

He said: “I just thought we needed to get the vaccinations moving and the more volunteers we get the smoother it will run.

“It’s gone alright - quite smooth considering it’s the first day.

“People seem pleased to be having it - when they come out that’s what comes across. Everybody’s quite thankful - that seems to be the general feeling.

“I feel like this is a move forward and we’re moving in the right direction - let’s just hope we can maintain the supplies for the whole country and get everybody done as soon as possible.”

Dr Chris Harvey, clinical care director of the primary care network in the High Peak, said during the weekend the practice would vaccinate ‘in the region of 1,500 people made up primarily of frontline workers and higher-risk patients’.

The network - made up of eight High Peak GP practices with about 60,000 registered patients - will simultaneously be immunising staff and residents at care homes, while nurses will also be administering the more easily transportable Oxford-AstraZeneca jabs in the homes of housebound patients across the borough.

He said: “It’s going really well - you rehearse it a thousand times in your own head and on the day it’s gone really very smoothly.

“One of the wonderful things about it has been seeing colleagues and patients in person who have been shielding and isolating quite strictly over recent months.

“It’s been wonderful to have those human conversations again after so long without them.”

The doctor told how over the next couple of weeks his network hoped to deliver the vaccine to ‘many, many more’ High Peak patients.

He added: “After this weekend we’re hoping the additional doses we can extract from the vials will have accumulated and we have more deliveries being promised – so we feel like it’s a great start.

“Two-three weeks form now we’ll have a big proportion of our local community vaccinated.”

Dr Harvey said he believed there would be more roll-outs in the coming weeks.

He said: “One of the big challenges is grasping opportunities like this while keeping our normal practices running.

“Because of course, all of the work we do on that side has to keep running - so it’s been about working more flexibly, working from home and working with patients even if that means them deferring contact with us if they safely can.

“But it seems increasingly likely that this is the first wave of multiple waves and who knows whether this will be necessary to repeat year-on-year.

“The science would suggest that’s probably where we’re heading with it but we’re just setting out our stall to iron out any wrinkles with it right now.”

Chris told how the day had been filled with ‘tears’ and ‘a lot of smiles.

He said: “Despite the masks you can see people smiling with their eyes - the staff have really enjoyed it and it feels like a really positive act to be a springboard for something better.

“It’s an opportunity for general practice to do their bit - we've seen our secondary care colleagues very much on the front pages.

“This has been our opportunity to feel and demonstrate we’re making a difference as well - that’s been really lovely to see.”

In these confusing and worrying times, local journalism is more vital than ever. Thanks to everyone who helps us ask the questions that matter by taking out a subscription or buying a paper. We stand together. Nancy Fielder, editor