YORK'S Covid mass vaccination centre has started giving jabs to children as young as five.

Centre coordinator, Professor Mike Holmes, has revealed that the centre at Askham Bar opened its doors last week to children aged 5 to 11 who were at high risk from the coronavirus.

Writing his weekly column for The Press, he said staff had wanted to make sure young people and their parents and carers were made as comfortable as possible during the vaccination process.

"The feedback from the clinics has been very positive and our new selfie photo booths proved particularly popular with this age group,"he said.

He said he wanted to remind people that the centre was still 'very much open for business,' still open seven days a week from 8.30am til 7.30pm, and millions of reminders to grab a booster jab were being sent out by the NHS.

Prof Holmes said Nimbuscare, which runs the centre, was now very much focusing on recovery and moving forward. "We’re determined to build a new, more positive future and have lots of plans in place to help people get better, whether from Covid or any other illness which has been affected by the pandemic."

He said projects included:

*Offering patients at higher risk from Covid-19, such as older people, people with health conditions and pregnant women, the opportunity to monitor their oxygen levels at home using oximeters.

*From this month, helping York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust ensure patients with Long Covid can access the NHS resources they need to recover by contacting them at regular intervals and offering support.

*Working with City of York Council and the hospitals trust to develop a support system for people on hospital waiting lists. He said this meant checking their blood pressure, carrying out blood tests and doing all they could to make sure they’re well enough to have their operation when the time came.

Nimbuscare was also providing medical care to patients at Peppermill Court in York, a 12-bed, step-down unit for people with Covid-19 who are discharged from hospital, but not well enough to go home.

"This unit was set up by City of York Council in partnership with York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, and is a residential unit for people who are well enough to be discharged from hospital but still require care," he said.

He said the children’s treatment hub for children up to 11 years of age at Askham Bar was also helping to take the pressure off the hospital by treating children with a range of symptoms in its special clinics.

"These are just some of the additional services which Nimbuscare is supporting on behalf of York’s 11 GP practices as part of York’s recovery plan," he said. "Many more possibilities are under discussion."

He added that the NHS was working as hard as ever, despite the extra work of delivering over 14 million vaccinations during December, with new figures showing that staff delivered 120,000 more diagnostic tests and checks in December, compared with the same time last year, despite the highest number of staff absences for any winter on record.