As part of the new Community Champions scheme, West Lancs CVS is working alongside West Lancashire Borough Council to get accurate local COVID-19 information to West Lancs residents and voluntary sector organisations.

Please help us get the word out by passing on this weekly update....

Find out what's happening in your area

In West Lancashire, rates of people testing positive for COVID-19 have risen sharply in the last 7 days

Find up to date statistics on vaccination rates, hospital admissions etc for your area here. 

New dates added to West Lancs pop-up vaccination clinics

• The walk-in clinics which started in Skelmersdale last week, have been held across the Borough and have proven very popular.
• The clinics are offering both first and second doses of the Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccines, with second doses made available to those who had their first at least eight weeks prior.
• Vaccines at the pop-up sites or vaccine bus are available to anyone who is 18 or over and there is no need to book!
• New walk-in COVID-19 vaccination clinics have just been added to the list for West Lancs:

Book an appointment at a regular clinic

If the above dates don't suit, you can still book an appointment at the ongoing regular West Lancs vaccination clinics by:

• Booking online through the National Booking Service system
• Booking an appointment by phoning free on 119

Vaccine safety

The COVID-19 vaccine has been through the same clinical trials and safety checks that all other licensed medicines go through.

Find out how the COVID-19 vaccine was developed and made safe for everyone in this video.

Local COVID-19 testing

Everyone is being encouraged to take COVID-19 tests even if they don’t have symptoms so they can be sequenced to identify Variants of Concern such as the Delta variant.

Anyone in West Lancashire without covid symptoms is eligible to two free, rapid coronavirus tests for themselves and their families. 

Twice-weekly testing is still crucial to keeping cases down.

You can either:

• Take the test at a symptom free testing site
• Collect tests from a symptom free testing site to use at home later
• Order home testing kits online if you cannot attend a testing site

For information on all testing sites across West Lancs or how to order a test online, go to: westlancs.gov.uk/symptom-freetesting

If you would like a stock of home testing kits to share with the community at community centres, group meetings, church halls, voluntary groups etc, please contact CustomerEngagement@westlancs.gov.uk

Covid-19 testing for people with symptoms

• If you have covid-19 symptoms, you will need to self-isolate and get a test here.
• If you have a positive test, you should immediately self-isolate and if eligible, can apply for financial support here.

COVID vaccination video in BSL

COVID vaccination video in BSL SignHealth has worked with other deaf organisations to create a COVID vaccination information video. 

Watch it on YouTube here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=inLEDuXByDY

Covid home testing instructions in different languages

If you need the instructions for how to use a Covid-19 rapid home testing kit in other languages or formats, these can be found on the Gov.uk website:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-antibody-test-kit-guides-in-different-languages

Easy Read and large print formats are also available to download.

Volunteering – can you help?

Many thanks to all those who have already volunteered to join our Community Champions project .  If you would like to join them to:

• Help us get accurate information about covid-19 into communities. We'll provide the information, we just need you to be a ‘hero from home’ and send it on (email, text, WhatsApp, social media) to your family, friends and social networks

• Give help to others in your neighbourhood – through practical tasks or helping out with a local organisation

Do get in touch with us at West Lancs CVS: phone 01695-733737, email: enquiries@wlcvs.org

Can you help us get the word out?

We are working with West Lancashire Borough Council to get accurate information into the heart of communities and would be grateful if you could pass this on to your networks.

Please join in these efforts by cascading these messages on to your work colleagues, friends and families using the share buttons below: