Sutton NHS COVID-19 vaccination programme

Last updated: 30 September 2021

Are you or your child aged 12 or over?
Book your COVID-19 vaccination online now

If you or your child are aged 12 or over, a carer or have an underlying health condition, call 119 or visit nhs.uk/covid-vaccination to book your COVID-19 vaccination appointment.

Your local NHS is delivering the biggest vaccination programme in its history. Everyone has an important part to play to help us with this programme of work

  • The COVID-19 vaccines are safe and effective. They will give you the best protection against coronavirus.
  • It’s never too late to get the Covid vaccine. It’s safe and effective, but speak to your GP if you have any concerns.

Who’s being prioritised for vaccination?

Anyone aged 16 and over can now get their COVID-19 vaccination. Eligible children aged between 12 and 15 can also receive their jab. For further details on whether your child is eligible, click the link below.

Find out who is being prioritised and why

What do you need to know about appointments?

When it’s your turn, you’ll be invited by the NHS to book an appointment.

Read more about how you will be invited for vaccination

Where can you get vaccinated?

The vaccination is being offered in a variety of places across south west London, including GP and pharmacy-led services, hospitals and community vaccination centres.

Find out where you can get vaccinated

You may also be able to have your first vaccination at walk-in clinics in south west London – but not everyone is eligible, so please check the clinic details before deciding to go..

Boost your immunity this winter

With two viruses in circulation, it’s more important than ever for those who are eligible to have the COVID-19 booster and the flu vaccines.

Find out if you can get a FREE jab and boost your immunity this winter! […]

Read More…

Local update

The government have announced that 12 to 15 year olds are now eligible for their Covid-19 vaccination. All 12 to 15 year olds will be offered one dose of the vaccine. We are working in partnership with Directors of Public Health and schools across South West London to deliver a schools based vaccination programme. Invitations for vaccination will begin from 22 September 2021.  

We have now administered over 2 million vaccinations in South West London. This marks another important milestone in our ongoing drive to protect people from Covid-19. We want to assure anyone who is eligible, from all age cohorts, but has not yet taken up the offer of a Covid-19 vaccine that it’s not too late.

We continue to have thousands of vaccination bookable and walk in appointments each day across our boroughs at our community vaccination sites, hospital hubs, GP-led vaccination centres, and numerous community pharmacies. We would encourage anyone who still has questions about the Covid-19 vaccine to come and talk to our friendly teams so they can make the best decision for them. 

For those aged 16 and over, you can find the latest South West London walk-in vaccination clinics on our website here – this page is updated regularly and we would appreciate your support in sharing the information. 

  • St Nicholas Vaccination Centre in Sutton is open from 9am to 6pm daily this week for Pfizer vaccinations – 1st and 2nd doses (walk in and appointments).

Following guidance from the JCVI the NHS in South West London will deliver a Covid-19 booster programme in addition to the annual flu programme. The Covid-19 booster will be offered to patients in the following groups from next week; Older adults living in residential homes; Front-line healthcare and social care workers; All adults aged 50 and over; All those aged 16 to 49 with underlying health conditions; Adult household contacts of immunosuppressed individuals. 

The flu vaccine is now available at some pharmacies across South West London. Check our website for more information.  

Read more in our weekly borough update

Highlight

The St Nicholas Shopping Centre in the heart of Sutton has been transformed into an NHS COVID-19 Vaccination Centre to support the NHS vaccination drive. The Centre will play a key role in vaccinating eligible Sutton residents alongside health and care staff.

Read more.

Top questions

  • The government has accepted the advice of the 4 UK CMOs and we are preparing to deliver a schools-based vaccination programme, which is the successful model used for vaccinations including for HPV and Diphtheria, Tetanus and Polio (DTP). Invitations for vaccination will begin next week. 
  • Healthy school-aged children aged 12 to 15 will primarily receive their COVID-19 vaccination in their school with alternative provision for those who are home schooled, in secure services or specialist mental health settings.  
  • All parents or those with parental responsibility are asked for consent and will usually make this decision, jointly with their children. The information leaflet is addressed to the child (as the recipient of the vaccine) and encourages them to discuss the decision about the vaccine with their parents.
  • In secondary schools, some older children may be sufficiently mature to provide their own consent. This sometimes occurs if a parent has not returned a consent form but the child still wishes to have the vaccine on the day of the session. Every effort will be made to contact the parent to seek their verbal consent. This is a well established process which is used in other school-based vaccination programmes.

 

  • The vaccine works by making a copy of the protein from the outside of the virus, that is important for creating protection. The protein works in the same way they do for other vaccines by stimulating the immune system to make antibodies and cells to fight the infection. 
  • It’s much safer for your immune system to learn to fight illnesses through vaccination than by catching and treating them. 
  • When enough people get vaccinated, it’s harder for a disease to spread to those who can’t have vaccines. Getting vaccinated protects not only you but also your family, friends, and community. 
  • Yes, vaccines approved for use in the UK have met strict standards of safety, quality and effectiveness set out by the independent Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).  
  • Research and data shows that the most common adverse effects following vaccination in children aged 12 to 17 years are injection site pain, fever, and headache. These reactions are generally mild, self-limiting and short-lived, typically lasting 1 to 2 days.  
  • Real-world data on the safety of COVID-19 vaccines in children is currently limited, but there have been extremely rare reports of myocarditis (inflammation of the heart muscle) and pericarditis (inflammation of the membrane around the heart) following the use of the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines in millions of younger adults. 
Discover more answers in our Q&A

Getting tested if you don’t have symptoms

Around 1 in 3 people with COVID-19 do not have any symptoms. You can get a free rapid COVID-19 test at a local site in Sutton, and get the results the same day, usually within 30 minutes. This is called lateral flow testing.

Find out more at sutton.gov.uk

Information in different formats and languages

You can translate all the written content on this website by using the language menu in the top right hand corner of this page.

Useful resources are available in many languages and formats, including British Sign Language, which will help you to learn more about the vaccine and how it’s being offered. The handy resources have been produced by the NHS, Public Health England and partners.

Explore the leaflets to find out more

Engagement with local communities

We know that in Sutton some communities are less likely to take up the offer of the vaccine than other groups.   

We’re engaging with local communities to give people the chance to ask local experts about the vaccine so that they can make informed decisions and we can understand any concerns they may have.  

During the summer, Sutton has been targeting most deprived wards with lowest vaccine uptake via a door knocking campaign. The results have been very encouraging and we have received useful insight into some of the barriers people are facing in accessing the vaccine.

The joint funding project with the local authority is now underway:  Nine voluntary organisations have been successfully awarded grant funding and have started their work targeting the younger cohort and encouraging the uptake of the covid vaccine. Community events have taken place in deprived areas where BAME young people were invited to attend and discuss their concerns, and some excellent videos targeting young people on youtube have had over 10k views over the last few weeks! Further events are being planned across Sutton Borough to ensure high vaccine uptake rates.

Also work is still ongoing to vaccinate the homeless population via “Find and Treat” and we are arranging another event to offer the second dose of the Moderna vaccine this month.

Getting vaccinated is the single most important step we can take to protect ourselves, our families and our communities against Covid-19. So, if you’re 16 or 17, don’t delay get jabbed today!

To find out more about local engagement, you can read the Sutton Communications and Engagement Plan. 

If you would like to attend a local COVID-19 vaccination event or find out more, email getinvolved@swlondon.nhs.uk 

COVID-19 news

Borough updates

For the latest coronavirus updates, and information from your area, please visit Sutton Council.