Your experience of the COVID 19 vaccination programme

In March 2021, Healthwatch Sunderland and Healthwatch South Tyneside launched a survey to gather people’s general experiences of using their local COVID-19 vaccination programme.

This report covers the 41 respondents who attended a vaccination centre in South Tyneside between 1 May and 30 June 2021.

Key findings:

• The majority of South Tyneside respondents had received their invitation to have both their first and second vaccine either through text message (44%/41%) or via a letter (34%/10%).
• The vast majority of South Tyneside respondents, for both their first and second vaccination, stated that they found it very easy (80%/79%) or fairly easy (13%/17%) to book their appointment.
• Four-fifths of South Tyneside respondents (80%) received their vaccine at one of the three main centres –Cleadon Park, Flagg Court or The Glen and 95% of respondents -stated they found it very easy or fairly easy to access the venue.
• The vast majority of South Tyneside respondents (93%) were informed of which vaccine they were receiving and 93%were informed of the possible side effects of the vaccine.
• The majority of respondents stated that they had received an information leaflet to take way with them after receiving their first vaccination (97.5%) with 63.5% saying they received one after their second jab.
• The majority of respondents (46%) replied that they hadn’t had their second vaccine appointment arranged after receiving their initial vaccination. A further 37% had already had their second vaccination and 17% had their second appointment date confirmed.
• When asked to rate their overall experience of receiving their vaccine, the vast majority of recipients (98%) rated the experience of receiving their first vaccine as either very good or good, with 90% of recipients receiving the second vaccine rating their experience as very good or good.