The Vaccination Hub at The EpiCentre with Matt Hancock and Rosalind Tandy

The Suffolk GP Federation Vaccination Programme in Haverhill went live this weekend at The EpiCentre.  To support the launch of the programme Secretary of State for Health and Social Care and councillor for West Suffolk constituency Matt Hancock dropped in virtually.  This was to meet the NHS team, see the operation first hand to get feedback on the ground but also understand how the national programme is being rolled out here in Suffolk.  It was great to speak to him to show him the amazing work of our NHS colleagues who have set this facility up in record time and also show some snippets of how innovation is being driven locally through some of the centre customers.

The Epicentre in Haverhill is privately owned by Jaynic and managed by innovation centre experts Oxford Innovation.  The EpiCentre offers office space, lab space, meeting room facilities for start-up and scale-up businesses and will shortly be open to the public when the on-site Café opens.  What started as innocent enquiry to our local NHS trust about the -80 freezer we had on-site as part of our Lab set-up (it had been well documented that the Pfizer jab required special storage) moved onto the Innovation Centre being used as a prime Vaccination Centre for the community of Haverhill and the wider area of Suffolk.  There is no better way to utilise the centre that only opened 2^nd November to bring the private and public sector together in this national effort.