All nursing home residents in Sandbach should receive their first dose of the Coronavirus vaccine by the end of January, a local health group has said.

The SMASH Care Community group, which helps coordinate community healthcare across the local area, is expected to get its first batches of the vaccines on Thursday (7 January).

A post on the Sandbach GPs Facebook page said: "On Friday some of the Pfizer vaccines will go direct from hub site to nursing homes across SMASH to vaccinate as many as possible - we aim to have all nursing home patients done by end of Jan (supply dependent)."

Alsager will act as the hub for the rollout to local nursing homes and is expecting to receive 975 doses of the Pfizer vaccine and 400 from AstraZeneca with more to follow in the proceeding weeks.

While other towns in Cheshire East will begin their GP-led rollout of the vaccine this week, it is not clear when practices in Sandbach will receive doses.

A spokesperson for the Cheshire Clinical Commissioning Group, which is leading the vaccine rollout, said: "Not all areas of the county have started vaccinating yet, so don't be worried if you or a family member is over 80 but hasn't heard anything so far. You might know others over 80 who have been invited for their vaccination already, but that doesn't mean that you are a lower priority.

"GPs and other practice staff are working hard to vaccinate as many people in this group as quickly as possible, and during January many more people will be invited in, but it is only the start of the vaccination programme and it will take some time to work through everyone."

Vaccinations at Leighton Hospital began in late December.

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