Following the announcement by the Prime Minister on 4^th January of a national lockdown in England, guidelines on what is and what is not allowed have been produced and can be seen HERE.

Related guidelines for people who are clinically extremely vulnerable can be seen HERE.

Regarding the vaccine, the priority areas for this are as follows:

1. Care home residents; care home workers
2. People aged 80+; and frontline health and social care workers
3. People aged 75-79
4. People aged 70-74; clinically extremely vulnerable people
5. People aged 65-69
6. People aged 16-64 with underlying health conditions
7. People aged 60-64
8. People aged 55-59
9. People aged 50-54

The government has stated that it plans to give the first dose of the vaccine to everyone in the top four categories by mid-February.  The second dose of the vaccine is likely to follow about 12 weeks later.  Further information regarding the vaccine can be seen HERE.

It is likely that being a stroke survivor will place you in category 6 – as someone with an underlying health condition.  However, we are not certain of this at this stage.  In some cases, a stroke survivor will be in a higher group if they are older, or if they are clinically extremely vulnerable.

In the meantime, a reminder that Different Strokes has extensive online resources available to support you during this very challenging time. 

Firstly, our online community is highly active, to while many of us are facing a long period of isolation you don’t have to do this alone.  Apply to join our thriving Facebook community for support and company by clicking HERE

We have daily online exercises classes which take place at 11.00 from Monday to Friday, and tai chi sessions which take place at 4.00pm every Monday.

In addition, we are now featuring weekly interviews with stroke survivors, talking about how they are coping in lockdown and sharing their tips.  If you would like to be interviewed as part of this series we would love to hear from you!  If so, please contact info@differentstrokes.co.uk

All these services – and all previous videos – are available on our Facebook page HERE and our YouTube channel HERE.

Finally, we are also hosting networking sessions every few weeks, where stroke survivors can get together in small groups, and talk, without any specific agenda, about the issues that are important.  For more information on these please visit our Facebook page or contact us at info@differentstrokes.co.uk