THE uptake of the Covid-19 vaccine in Berkshire has been "a little bit slow" because some care home staff are reluctant to take it.

That was the message from Debbie Simmons, Director of Nursing at Berkshire West Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), who is urging all care home workers to get vaccinated as the number of cases in the county continues to rise.

The NHS organisation opened its first vaccination centre at Wokingham Hospital on December 14 and began vaccinating frontline health and social care workers with the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.

Staff administered around 1,950 vaccines over two weeks, but Ms Simmons says that centre is now open six days a week and staff can "double the amount of vaccinations they are going to do each week in January".

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She added: "The message to everybody is got for it, get the vaccine.

"I think the uptake's been a little bit slow, with regards to care home staff particularly.

"I think there was a little bit of reluctance. The vaccine is new and it's about getting the message out there that it's safe and the safest thing to do is actually have the vaccine."

The CCG is also running a vaccination programme for members of the public in West Berkshire and the over 80s are the first in line.

Staff will begin vaccinating people from Newbury Racecourse next week and they are aiming to administer the jab to all the over 80s by the end of January.

Each group of healthcare providers in West Berkshire, known as primary care networks (PCNs), have received hundreds of doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, which is easier to transport and store than the Pfizer-BioNTech jab.

"They are getting 400 vaccines per PCN," said Ms Simmons. "They are going to use those vaccines largely in care homes we think.

"That's the way that most practices and GPs consider is the best way to use their AstraZeneca vaccine, because there isn't the same restrictions around moving that vaccine and they can keep it in a normal fridge.

"When they go out to care homes, they can actually vaccinate care home staff as well."

The Royal Berkshire Hospital also opened a vaccination centre this week for staff.

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Both vaccines have been approved by the UK's medicines regulator after they were found to be highly effective at protecting people from becoming seriously ill with Covid-19.

The government says more than 730 vaccination sites have been set up across the UK and 1,000 could be up and running by the end of the week.

It has bought 100 million doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca jab and 40 million doses of BioNTech-Pfizer vaccine.

With both vaccines, each person should receive two doses to develop immunity against the disease.

Once over 80s and frontline healthcare and social workers have been vaccinated, the over 75s will be next in line.

Over 70s and people deemed to be "clinically extremely vulnerable" will the receive the jab, according to government guidance.

Ms Simmons' comments came at a meeting of West Berkshire Council's Local Outbreak Engagement Board on December 4.