COVID-19 Vaccinations for Health, Social Care and Care Home Staff
Local health, social care and care home staff across Forth Valley can arrange to receive the COVID-19 vaccine during the first phase of the national COVID-19 vaccination programme which runs from 8th December 2020 to the end of February 2021. However, frontline health and care staff working in patient facing roles will be given prioritised appointments.
The vaccine is your best protection against coronavirus and NHS Scotland strongly recommends you get the vaccine when offered it.
The following leaflets provide more information about the vaccine and why it is important for health and social care staff to be immunised.
Your Appointment
To request a new appointment or reschedule an existing appointment please complete and submit the form below. If your second vaccination appointment was originally scheduled to take place in January or February then staff will contact you to reschedule this and you do not need to call or email.
As you need two doses of the vaccine you will be given two appointments up to 12 weeks apart. You must attend your second vaccination on the date given to help ensure longer-term protection.
Once your appointment has been arranged, if possible, please could you download, print and complete the Immunisation Consent form, and bring it with you to your first appointment along with your staff ID badge.
Exceptions
Any person with a history of a significant allergic reaction to a vaccine, medicine or food (such as previous history of anaphylactoid reaction or those who have been advised to carry an adrenaline autoinjector) should not receive the Pfizer BioNtech vaccine. These staff will be offered the AstraZeneca vaccine when it is available to Occupational Health.
Neither vaccine is suitable for women who are pregnant or planning to get pregnant within 2 months of the 2nd dose. Find out more.
Vaccination Clinic Locations
For care home, social care, pharmacy, dental and optometry staff
These will be held on the ground floor of the hospital near the Pharmacy Department off the main atrium and will take place between 8.30am and 7.30pm Monday to Sunday. To help reduce traffic through the hospital you will be asked to enter via a side door to the right of the main entrance, around the corner from Starbucks.
For NHS, Serco and GP Practice staff
These will be held in the Learning and Education centre on the third floor of the hospital and the Occupational Health Department on the second floor of the hospital.
Further Information
If you have an enquiry related to COVID-19 vaccinations, please visit www.nhsinform.scot/covid19vaccine or call the Scottish COVID-19 Vaccination Helpline on 0800 030 8013 (available 8am–8pm 7 days a week).
Common Questions
Everyone in Scotland over the age of 18 will be offered a vaccination along with 16 and 17-year olds who have underlying health conditions.
There is likely to be a limited supply of vaccines at the start, so the UK’s Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) has drawn up advice on how people should be prioritised. The priorities for the first wave of vaccine distribution, from December 2020 to February 2021 are:
- those delivering the vaccination programme
- frontline health and social care staff
- older residents in care homes
- care home staff
- all those aged 80 and over
You can read the JCVI advice on priority groups here.
The vaccines will be delivered by wide range of health and social care staff including local immunisations NHS teams, GPs, community nurses and healthcare support workers.
As the first Pfzier/BioNTech vaccine needs to stored at -70 degrees, initial vaccination clinics will take place at major hospitals and there are also plans to vaccinate care home residents. One additional vaccines are available which can be more easily stored and transported then vaccination clinics will also be able to take place in a wider range of venues including GP Practices and other community venues.
No, most Covid-19 vaccines will require two doses, given up to 12 weeks apart and you will be asked to book two appointments. You must attend for your second vaccination on the date arranged in order for the vaccine to be effective.
This depends on a number of factors including vaccine supply, uptake levels and distribution arrangements however everything is being done to roll out the vaccination programme as quickly as possible. All going well, mass vaccination of those who are not in the most vulnerable groups is likely to take place in spring or summer 2021. However, it is important to remember this is the biggest vaccination programme of mass vaccination in the history of the UK.
Yes, after seven days, you’ll be able to get a Covid-19 vaccine, if you are eligible to receive one.
If we say a vaccine is 80% effective, this indicates an 80% reduction in disease transmission or severity of illness among the vaccinated group when compared to an unvaccinated one in controlled clinical trials.
Each vaccine produces an immune response. That ranges from helping the body fight the infection and minimise its effect, all the way to preventing infection in the first place. The effectiveness of new vaccines is closely monitored and all vaccines continue to develop and evolve in line with ongoing research and development.
These vaccines are not live vaccines so it shouldn’t really affect it, but you’ll be asked some questions on the day to make sure that there are no reasons for you not to have the vaccine and you can also speak to your GP if you have any concerns.
Before any vaccines are used in a national programmes, they need to satisfy strict safety criteria and so far none of the vaccines likely to be used in the UK showed any safety concerns despite being given to thousands of people in the clinical trials. As with all vaccination programmes, there will be trained staff on site, so that in the rare instances where someone has an adverse reaction, help is close at hand.
No, while it is strongly recommend that those eligible to receive vaccines should do so, vaccination is not mandatory and everyone has a choice. The importance of vaccination is shared by most people in Scotland as we have some of the highest uptake rates in Europe for national vaccination programmes.
As none of the vaccines likely to be used in the UK initially have yet been fully tested on children, it is unlikely that any of these vaccines will be licensed for children initially. Any future decisions will be guided by clinical and scientific advice and keep under constant review as new clinical trial data becomes available.
Women who are pregnant, or who plan to be pregnant in the next three months, are not being advised to receive the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine at this stage. This is due to the limited amount of data available on its use within this group however this advice may change over time as more information becomes available.
Find out more.
The priority is to protect the most vulnerable from this virus, driving cases of the virus to the lowest levels possible and effectively eliminating it over time. So in the meantime, and possibly for some time to come, everyone will still need to follow FACTS to protect themselves and others.
We’ve developed a protocol under the amended Human Medicines Regulations to enable a wider workforce to vaccinate, like community pharmacists, dentists and health and social care support workers.
Yes, everyone will need to continue to follow guidance on the use of face masks, hand santiser and maintain physical distancing to stay safe until virus levels have reduced significantly and the risk of transmission is much lower.
Yes, a number of vaccines are being developed including the Pfzier/BioNTech vaccine which is the first to be approved for use in the UK. Others are expected to be approved over the coming weeks and months.
Accurate information on each vaccine will be available to allow everyone to make an informed choice.
No, the vaccine will only be provided by NHS Scotland free of charge.
The Scottish Government has no plans to ask anyone to prove they have received a vaccine. As with other vaccinations, your medical records will be updated.
