THURSDAY, 1 JULY, 2021

Photographs attached: 2 Sisters Factory, Dura Street Mosque, East Scryne Farm, SAS bus North Inch Campus, SAS bus Stack Leisure Park

Success for vaccination outreach teams

To allow as many people as possible to get vaccinated, NHS Tayside’s vaccination teams have been delivering outreach clinics to those who may find it more difficult to access vaccination due to lifestyle, location or language barriers.

COVID-19 Vaccination Programme Director Lynne Hamilton said, “It’s really important that we support people across Tayside to access the COVID-19 vaccine, no matter where they live or work, what language they speak or what other barriers they may face.

“By offering these outreach sessions and providing support with interpretation, we can ensure that everyone has the opportunity to make an informed decision to get vaccinated.”

As part of the outreach work, drop-in sessions were held at Dens Park and Stack Leisure Park in Dundee and North Inch Campus in Perth on the Scottish Ambulance Service vaccination bus, as well as a clinic in Douglas Community Centre in Dundee. This provided an alternative venue in areas where case numbers have increased, with around 250 people attending the four sessions.

Further sessions are taking place on the vaccination bus this week at Tesco South Road in Dundee today (Thursday, 1 July) from 1-7pm and at Crieff Community Hospital on Friday, 2 July from 1-6pm.

This is in addition to the drop-in clinics running at vaccination centres across Tayside, which have seen an additional 6,000 people immunised alongside the usual scheduled clinics.

Full details of all drop-in clinics across Tayside are available at www.covidtayside.scot.nhs.uk or @NHSTayside on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

In order to support the deaf community, a session is being held at Dewar’s Centre in Perth on Saturday, 3 July for British Sign Language (BSL) users to come along and ask questions before receiving their vaccine. Details for how to book are available at www.covidtayside.scot.nhs.uk or @BSLNHSTayside on Facebook. A similar session is also being planned in Dundee.

Vaccinations have also taken place at the Scottish Islamic & Cultural Centre in Dundee for mosque members and other local residents, Perth and Castle Huntly prisons, the Cairn Centre Harm Reduction Service in Dundee, homeless units and hostels, as well as all mental health and learning disability units across Tayside. Additional outreach is planned at Open Heavens Christian Centre, which is a multi-cultural church in Dundee and with members of the Chinese Community.

Teams of vaccinators also visited a range of workplaces with high numbers of foreign national employees including the 2 Sisters factory in Coupar Angus and East Scryne Soft Fruit Farm in Carnoustie to offer the vaccine to eligible workers with around 300 people vaccinated in total at these sessions.

NHS Tayside’s Interpretation and Translation service supported these clinics which included people from a range of European countries including Bulgaria, France, Romania, Poland, Latvia, Maldova, Ukraine, Russia, Belarus and Greece.

Further awareness sessions are currently being organised with farms in Perth & Kinross to encourage workers to get immunised.

Contact:

Louise Wilson

NHS Tayside Communications

(01382) 740718