London — Woolwich Late Night Pharmacy has been approved by NHS England to become an NHS Covid vaccination site. It is the only Pharmacy in Greenwich to be approved at the present time and only 1 of 15 in London. They will begin offering the Covid19 vaccination from next week.

With the pandemic at its highest peak in the UK since it began, the government has given approval for a select number of pharmacies to begin administering the Covid 19 vaccine. This breakthrough initiative will allow pharmacists and their teams, who have been at the frontline throughout the pandemic, to provide vital support to their fellow healthcare professionals ,who have so far vaccinated over 3 million people in the UK already. Pharmacies will now join hospitals, care homes and mass vaccination centres in providing the Covid vaccine for high priority groups. These groups include Care home residents and workers , NHS frontline staff, people over 80 years old initially. They will be amongst the first  who will receive a letter inviting them to schedule appointments via the ‘NHS Covid-19 Vaccination Booking Service’.

Jignesh Mehta the Superintendent  Pharmacist of Woolwich late night Pharmacy says “We are honoured to be a part of the NHS Covid19 vaccination programme,

here at Woolwich late night Pharmacy we have been fully accessible for our patients throughout the pandemic and we still will be. Our  committed Pharmacy team are always available for any advice or support.”

Woolwich Late Night Pharmacy is the only Pharmacy site to be granted approval in Greenwich to provide the Covid vaccine for a number of reasons. These include : its size, which allows it to quickly deliver a large number of vaccines, whilst following social distancing measures. Its opening times – It is open 7 days a week, more than 12 hours a day. Finally it’s storage space, as it has the capacity to store the vaccines as well as the other equipment required to administer 1000 doses per week.

Within the next 2 weeks,  the vaccination programme will then be rolled out to 200 other suitably approved pharmacies across the UK.

Rajen Kandel, Director of the Woolwich late night Pharmacy says “We are so proud to be able to support the UK government’s target to vaccinate 15 million people by mid February and support the local communities in Greenwich & South East London. We are planning to roll out the vaccination programme to our other branches too pending NHS approval.