The West Mendip Hospital in Glastonbury will be the first site to start vaccinating some of the town's most vulnerable residents against Covid-19 this week.

People who have been identified by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) as the highest priority will be invited first, including over-80s and health and care staff.

This first wave of community GP-led sites follows the launch of the NHS vaccination programme in hospital hubs, such as Yeovil District Hospital, and is part of a range of ways that people will access vaccination services across Somerset.

Vaccinations will initially be delivered from four different sites in Somerset including West Mendip Community Hospital, in Glastonbury; the Mulberry Centre at Berrow; Taunton Vale Healthcare, Taunton and The Gateway Centre in Yeovil.

These initial GP-led sites have been developed by primary care networks (groups of local GP practices) who have been working closely together to develop detailed plans to deliver coronavirus vaccinations in community locations.

Andy Heron, joint senior responsible officer for the mass vaccination programme in Somerset, said: "As a rural county, we are planning to make the vaccine available from a number of locations to enable easier access for as many people as possible.

"Over the coming weeks, this will include our new local GP-led vaccination services, hospital hubs, larger county sites and via teams of mobile vaccinators for those who cannot leave their homes.

"This is the first phase of this roll out of the vaccine in communities and I want to thank all our primary care colleagues, who have worked tirelessly to make this possible."

Trudi Grant, director of public health at Somerset County Council, said: "It is fantastic to see the first local vaccination sites opening in Somerset and this is another key milestone in our fight against coronavirus.

"Please let's celebrate this news but don't drop your guard – the threat of coronavirus remains and for now the best way to keep everyone safe is by staying vigilant and continuing to follow the 'hands, face, space' guidelines."

Dr Alex Murray, clinical director for Fit for my Future/STP - Somerset Clinical Commissioning Group, said: "The new GP-led vaccination centres are a really important development in our response to this disease, and the start of our local roll out of the vaccination programme.

"We are hugely grateful to our GP practice teams who have been working around the clock to put detailed plans in place to deliver vaccines safely to the priority groups identified by the JCVI.

"Please be assured that there is no need for you to contact your local NHS services to be vaccinated, they will contact you when it is your turn and you will be given all the information that you need for your appointment."

Local vaccination services will be led by GPs, practice nurses and community pharmacists, with other services and additional community locations to follow over the coming weeks.

People are asked to support the NHS:

• Please don't contact the NHS to seek a vaccine, they will contact you;
• When they do contact you, please attend your booked appointments;
• And please continue to follow all the guidance to control the spread of the virus and save lives.

To meet the changing needs of our population, practices have begun working together and with community, mental health, social care, pharmacy, hospital and voluntary services in their local areas in primary care networks.

Primary care networks are based on GP registered lists, typically serving natural communities of around 30,000 to 50,000.

They are small enough to provide the personal care valued by both patients and GPs, but large enough to have impact and economies of scale through better collaboration between practices and others in the local health and social care system.

Primary care networks build on the core of current primary care services and enable greater provision of proactive, personalised, co-ordinated and more integrated health and social care.

Clinicians describe this as a change from reactively providing appointments to proactively care for the people and communities they serve.

These initial four GP-led local vaccination service sites are led by West Mendip, North Sedgemoor, Tone Valley and Yeovil primary care networks.