Update 21st Dec 2021
The Tower Hamlets Council website lists bookable and walk-in local vaccination centres here.
New walk-in Covid-19 tests in Canary Wharf
A new walk-in centre for people to have rapid Covid-19 tests has opened at Canary Wharf. It’s in the Jubilee Place Shopping Mall, level 2, Canary Wharf, E14 5NY. It’s open 7 days a week from 7:30am – 4:30pm. Just turn up – there’s no advanced booking.
The other two local sites offering the lateral flow tests, which give results in 30 mins are:
- Ecology Pavilion, Mile End Park, E3 5TW. Open 10am to 7pm every day.
- 96 Burcham Street, Poplar, E14 0SH. Open 10am to 7pm every day.
The tests are recommended if you think you have symptoms, or are a key worker, carer, tradesperson, work in retail, or can’t work from home.
Vaccinations
Update Fri 12th Feb; they’re now accepting bookings from the over 65s. Online you get to choose your date, time and preferred location – which includes some local pharmacies.
Yesterday Matt Hancock said that over-70s yet to receive Covid vaccine should contact the NHS here. He said that they are concerned that people might have fallen through the cracks. 83% of the people who died of coronavirus were over 70.
Currently, the vaccine is being offered to:
- People aged 70 and over
- The clinically extremely vulnerable
- Adult care home residents
- Health and social care workers
If you haven’t heard and are in one of the above categories you should contact the NHS.
Tower Hamlets has setup a special helpline for those who can’t book online: 020 7364 3030. The helpline is staffed with call handlers who can speak local community languages. They will book Covid-19 vaccine appointments for all eligible residents.
The country’s deputy chief medical officer, Professor Jonathan Van-Tam said there were only 147 known cases of the South African variant, against which the AstraZeneca vaccine was less effective. The main variant in the UK is the Kent strain, and it works well against that. He urged people not to wait for the perfect vaccine, but to take the first one they are offered. The virus will continue to change and mutate, and the vaccines will be continually modified. That’s how flu vaccines work.