Health and social care organisations in Derbyshire have been working closely together for some time, to improve care and services for people and make them as efficient and effective as possible.
A variant of SARS-COV-2 is a version of the virus that has undergone some genetic changes (mutations) and this is a cause for concern. Some mutations may change the characteristics of the virus and how it interacts with humans. There is currently no evidence to suggest that the Pfizer/BioNTech or Astra/Oxford vaccine would not protect people against the new strain but further laboratory work is currently being undertaken as a priority to understand this.