Sussex hospital trust among first to receive Covid-19 vaccine

A hospital trust in Sussex is set to be one of the first in the country to receive the long-awaited Covid-19 vaccine later this month.
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Fifty-three hospital trusts across the county have been marked out as locations for early acceptance of the vaccine, due to the facilities needed to keep it at super-cold temperatures of -70 degrees Celsius.

The only Sussex trust on that list is Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals, which has sites in Brighton and Mid-Sussex.

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Its hospitals include Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton, the Princess Royal in Haywards Heath and the Royal Alexandra Children’s Hospital in Brighton.

It is unclear exactly where the vaccines will be stored and how rollout across the county will be coordinated, but the news is sure to inspire cautious hope along the south coast.

It was announced yesterday (December 2) that the UK was the first country in the world to approve the vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech.

High profile politicians such as Jacob Rees-Mogg had claimed the country’s impending exit from the European Union allowed the process to be speeded up – a claim quickly rebuked by the body responsible for approving the vaccine in the UK, the MHRA (Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency).

Sussex currently site in tier 2 of the social restrictions, meaning it is at high risk.