Covid vaccine ‘will be rolled out NEXT MONTH with tens of thousands of Britons getting the jab every day by Christmas’
- Tens of thousands could be vaccinated each day according to leaked documents
- Hundreds of NHS staff deployed in ‘five mass vaccination sites’ across country
- Plan relies on Oxford University getting successful vaccine trial result this month
Covid vaccination jabs are expected to be on offer by the NHS from as early as next month, as five mass vaccination centres are planned to be in action by Christmas.
Leaked provisional documents have revealed the plan for hundreds of NHS staff to be deployed in five sites across the country – injecting tens of thousands of the public each day, reports The Sun.
Those who are most vulnerable to coronavirus are likely to be called up first, with centres planned in Leeds, Hull and London, the publication reports.
In addition to the five static sites of giant scale, GPs and pharmacist will also be asked to assist in the mass vaccination effort, with a fleet of mobile units to be used to reach vulnerable communities and those in care homes.
NHS staff handing out test kits to Glasgow University students as they arrive for testing at a pop up test centre in Glasgow. October 3, 2020
A source told The Sun: ‘The earliest we are likely to get the first trial results is in a month’s time – which means the best case scenario for a potential roll out is just before Christmas.
‘But planning is well under way, so there will be no delay in vaccination once we have a working jab.’
On Sunday Matt Hancock confirmed that the military would be involved in distributing a coronavirus vaccine.
Tens of thousands could be vaccinated each day according to leaked documents
The Health Secretary told the virtual Tory conference that ‘the plans are in train’ to combine the NHS and the armed forces to make ‘the rollout happen’.
He said people would get the vaccine ‘according to priority’ – but did not clarify what that order would be.
Mr Hancock told the Tory conference that a vaccine was the ‘great hope’.
The leading contender in the race to find a vaccine is Oxford University, where trials have been ongoing since April – there are hopes the vaccine could be approved by regulators by Christmas.
Around 100million doses of the Oxford vaccination, which is yet to be proved successful, have already been ordered by the Government.
The jabs developed by Oxford University require two inoculations, 28 days apart, meaning the logistical challenge faced by the government is two fold.
To administer two doses of a vaccine to 53 million adults in the six-month time period would involve 600,000 jabs a day.
Those who need the injections most are first on the list, meaning care home residents and staff will get it as soon as it’s ready.
Those aged over 80 and NHS staff are next, followed by all over 65s, younger adults at higher risk and people over 50.
Some care home managers were asked for a list of eligible frontline staff last month.
Last week a Royal Society report warned there would be significant challenges in distributing and producing the vaccine on such a mass scale.
Nilay Shah, head of the department of chemical engineering at Imperial College London, and a co-author of the report, said: ‘Even when the vaccine is available it doesn’t mean within a month everybody is going to be vaccinated.
‘We’re talking about six months, nine months . . . a year. There’s not a question of life suddenly returning to normal in March.’
Yesterday WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus revealed that he anticipated a vaccine against COVID-19 may be ready by the year-end.
Dr Ghebreyesus said in final remarks to the WHO’s Executive Board, without elaborating: ‘We will need vaccines and there is hope that by the end of this year we may have a vaccine. There is hope.’
Nine experimental vaccines are in the pipeline of the WHO’s COVAX global vaccine facility that aims to distribute 2 billion doses by the end of 2021.
Some care home managers were asked for a list of eligible frontline staff last month