UK to get 1m more Covid vaccines within a week
Chris Smyth, Whitehall Editor | Tom Whipple, Science Editor
Wednesday December 09 2020, 12.01am, The Times
thetimes.co.uk
GPs will start within days to book appointments for coronavirus vaccines before the arrival in Britain next week of more than a million more doses of the Pfizer jab.
As thousands of Britons became the first people in the world yesterday to be inoculated against the disease outside of a trial, it emerged that two more consignments of the injection would be delivered next week and the week after, following the initial 800,000 doses.
With the NHS now due to have four million doses before Christmas, it will be able to start the next phase of vaccine delivery, with an estimated 280 GP immunisation centres expected to begin operation next week. Patients eligible for the coronavirus vaccine will be notified by their GP, usually through letters or phone calls.
Matt Hancock, the health secretary, told MPs yesterday: “From next week we will expand deployment to start vaccinations by GPs and we will vaccinate in care homes by Christmas. As more vaccines come on stream in the new year, we will open vaccination centres in larger venues, such as sports stadiums and conference halls.”
Those who received the vaccine yesterday can expect significant protection against the virus from next week, after documents released by the US Food and Drug Administration showed that a single dose of the Pfizer vaccine readies them to repel the virus.
Even before people receive their three-week booster, their immune systems are primed, with the effect kicking in after about ten days, the data shows. Scientists cautioned that people should not miss their second shot.
NHS leaders were initially uncertain when they would get supplies beyond the initial 800,000 doses but have now been told of two further delivery dates. Either 1.2 million or 1.6 million are expected to arrive next week, with the remainder of an initial four million arriving the week after.
Stephen Powis, the NHS England medical director, said: “From next week, we’ll see GP surgeries join up across the country to support hospitals in the delivery of the jab, followed by larger vaccination centres in key locations nationwide.” Writing in The Times Red Box, he cautioned: “The need for -70C storage and the expertise to transport it safely mean we should expect steady but not overnight progress.”
Ultimately there are expected to be about 1,250 GP vaccination centres and about a quarter of them will open next week. This will partly be based on areas with large numbers of people aged above 80 and other at-risk groups, and partly on which centres can be ready fastest.
Each centre will be given fridges to store the Pfizer vaccine, keeping it at a constant temperature even when the door is frequently opened, and storage racks that match the containers in which the jabs arrive. The centres have been told they will need to administer batches of 975 doses within three and a half days. “You will get places phoning patients and saying ‘can you come in tomorrow or the day after’,” a health source said.
It also emerged yesterday that the vaccine developed by Oxford University and Astrazeneca has been the first to provide evidence it may stop not just people falling ill from the virus but also those getting infected.
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