Leslie Berkeley could be forgiven for having a sense of déjà vu after becoming one the first people in Radcliffe to get the coronavirus vaccination.
For, back in the 1950s, he was among the first in the town to volunteer for the then new polio jab! At the time, he was 24 and the youngest councillor on the former Radcliffe Borough Council, and went for the vaccination with his wife Valerie (21) and their tenth-month-old daughter Denise.
They were the second complete family from Radcliffe to receive the vaccination, and he was quoted as saying: “Immunisation against polio is a fine thing. I think everyone who has the opportunity ought to take advantage of it.”
History repeated itself on Saturday (19 Dec) when Mr Berkeley, now aged 86, headed for Bealey’s in Radcliffe to get his Covid vaccination.
Bealey’s is the second centre in the borough to open in the last week for Covid vaccinations (the other is Prestwich Walk-In centre) and plans are under way for more to open shortly. Around 900 people were vaccinated at Bealey’s in the first three days since it opened.
Dr Victoria Moyle, Lead GP for the Bealey’s Vaccination Centre, said: “Co-ordinating the delivery of the Covid vaccinations from the Bealeys site has been both challenging and rewarding in equal measure. Staff, volunteers and most of all our patients were key in making the first wave of delivery from this site a success.
“This is the start of perhaps the largest public health intervention that we will ever undertake and I encourage everyone to have the vaccine when they are invited to do so.’
