People from the Shotley peninsula will need to go to Ipswich or Colchester for their Covid vaccine jab as from next week.

The next wave of locations for Primary Care Network (PCN) vaccination sites have today been confirmed across the Suffolk and north east Essex Integrated Care System (ICS).

They will go live from next week (beginning 11 January 2021) and, during January and February, will vaccinate people according to the current priority schedule which includes elderly vulnerable people aged 80 or over and health and care staff.

Other cohorts of people, as identified by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), which determines the priority groups and schedule, will be contacted to receive their vaccination in due course.

GP surgeries are working collaboratively together to ensure all our patients in these cohort are vaccinated.

The locations across Suffolk and north east Essex, which excludes the Waveney area of Suffolk, are:

• The Grove Medical Centre, Felixstowe
• Fryatt Hospital, Harwich
• Jubilee Centre, Mildenhall
• Constable Country Medical Practice, East Bergholt
• Debenham Leisure Centre
• The Epicentre, Haverhill Research Park
• Hadleigh Health Centre
• Hardwicke House Surgery Cornard branch, Sudbury
• Lavenham branch, Long Melford Surgery
• Saxmundham Health
• Sizewell Sports & Social Club, Leiston
• The Mix, Stowmarket
• Trinity Park Conference Centre, Ipswich
• Woodbridge Community Hall

The above venues are in addition to the sites that went live during December in Bury St Edmunds, Ipswich (x 2), Clacton, Colchester and Woolpit.

Additional sites will be announced in due course.

Suffolk GP, Dr Mark Shenton, said: "This is excellent news and will really allow our system to ramp up the vaccination process for local people and communities.

"GPs and primary care staff will be in touch with people as and when they become eligible for the vaccine.

"They will not be able to vaccinate everyone immediately so please be patient whilst as we contact our patients aged over 80 during January.

"When you are invited to get yours, I would strongly advise you to have it."

Lisa Nobes, Director of Nursing at the Suffolk and North East Essex clinical commissioning groups, said: "We are aligned with the government's ambition to vaccinate as many people from those high priority groups as possible over the coming weeks.

"These vaccination centres are in addition to the work already underway to vaccinate care home residents and staff.

"This is a big effort collectively and the system is trying to manage this in the safest possible way."