Ipswich Buses has partnered with Ipswich and East Suffolk Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) to launch a mobile COVID-19 vaccination facility, intended to target areas of the region with a low vaccine uptake and speed up the COVID-19 vaccination process in the region.
The model will tour Ipswich and East Suffolk for at least four months, benefitting minority ethnic communities, the disabled and those with poor access to static vaccination sites.
Engineers have removed seats and handrails and installed Perspex booths as vaccination cubicles. A fogging machine is on board to sanitise the vehicle between appointments.
Appointments will be made by invitation with time slots kept freee for open appointments and the opportunity to talk to on-board clinicians. Specific times will be allocated for women, people with learning disabilities or sensory impairments, and for those with low level anxiety or mental health problems.
Ipswich Buses is providing the vehicle free of charge. The facility is supported by primary care networks Two Rivers Medical Centre and Barrack and Ivry Street Medical Practice.
Steve Bryce, General Manager at Ipswich Buses, says: “Ipswich Buses is delighted to be involved with this project to deliver COVID-19 vaccinations to people in communities that might struggle otherwise to get to the fixed vaccination centres, or who might just need a little extra support when having their injection.
“Delivering the vaccination programme is key to returning back to some sort of normality so we felt we needed to help and give something back to the communities that support and depend upon our bus services.”
Adds Head of Partnerships and Alliance Delivery at Ipswich and East Suffolk CCG Louise Hardwick: “We are extremely grateful to Ipswich Buses for its generosity and the way it has worked with us so enthusiastically to transform the bus into a self-contained, clean and safe location for vaccinations to take place.
“We can now be more reactive and target vaccinations in areas of the highest need as we move down the clinical groups. This will enable us to vaccinate the whole population more quickly, which will be instrumental in improving outcomes from COVID-19.”
