The Duchess of Cornwall visited the Community Vaccination Centre at St Paul’s Church in Croydon on 3 March, where she spoke to and thanked NHS staff and volunteers supporting the vaccination rollout.
Her Royal Highness was greeted by Dr Agnelo Fernandes, GP lead for Croydon and introduced to NHS staff, clinicians, administrators, volunteer marshals and representatives from the church and local community.
The Duchess also took the opportunity to meet with those receiving their injection and hear about their experiences.
Dr Agnelo Fernandes, GP lead for Croydon, said: “We are immensely grateful for the support of our staff and all the volunteers who have come forward to support our effort to protect as many people as possible from Covid-19 and it was an honour to see them to be recognised in this way.”
Dipti Gandhi, Pharmacist Partner in a GP practice in Thornton Heath: “The coronavirus vaccines are safe and effective, offering people a vital defence against the virus, and I would encourage anyone who is unsure about being vaccinated to talk to your GP or look on NHS.uk for the facts on the vaccines.”
Teresa Chapman, Business Lead for One Thornton Heath PCN who has led the coordination and organisation at St Paul’s as a vaccination site said: “It was wonderful to show Her Royal Highness around our vaccination centre to meet our hard working team. We are very proud of the work we are doing here and it is lovely to see and hear how pleased our patients are being able to have their vaccine close to where they live.”
Andrew Brown, CEO of the BME Forum, said: “We are so proud to be working with our local doctors across Croydon’s NHS to help get the message out about the vaccine programme. We are working with our partners to engage our local communities to give them a chance to ask experts about the vaccine so that they can make informed decisions.”
Ima Miah, CEO of the Asian Resource, said: “This partnership has really shown that we can reach the most marginalised communities with a bottom up approach. The medical community and the voluntary sector have worked together to tackle misinformation and increase vaccination uptake in BAME communities. This visit by the Duchess of Cornwall will help to motivate the team even more and is a testament to our hard work.”
The visit did not disrupt the vaccination of local residents who continued to have their injections while the Duchess of Cornwall spoke to staff, volunteers and patients.
While the religious services have moved online at St Paul’s, the church itself has been repurposed to facilitate the rollout of vaccinations in the Croydon area. 11 local GP practices have come together as part of two Primary Care Networks to run the vaccination centre.
St Paul’s Church first started vaccinating on Wednesday 13 January 2021 and has delivered both the Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccinations.