Here already! First Pfizer jabs arrive at hospitals
NHS receives precious cargo ... and it could be given to UK patients as early as tomorrow
THE first doses of the Pfizer vaccine started arriving at UK hospitals yesterday, heralding the start of a mass-vaccination drive that has been hailed as ‘the beginning of the end’ for coronavirus.
Croydon University Hospital was among the first 50 medical hubs to receive doses, ready for use on patients as early as tomorrow – dubbed V-day by the Health Secretary Matt Hancock.
As the boxes were unloaded from lorries and into the specialist storage facilities, NHS England’s medical director said it was ‘a really exciting moment’.
But Professor Stephen Powis cautioned: ‘This feels like the beginning of the end, but of course it’s a marathon, not a sprint, and it will take many months for us to vaccinate those who need vaccination.’
Initial doses of the vaccine – which was last week given the green light by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) – are being prioritised for those most at risk.
Patients aged 80-plus attending hospital for other appointments are likely to be first in line for the jab, followed by care home staff. Inoculated patients will be
‘Beginning of the end’
given a card filled out with their details to prove that they have had it.
GP surgeries in England have been told to start staffing vaccination centres by December 14. Britain has ordered 40million Pfizer doses, enough to vaccinate 20million people.
The arrival of a batch at Croydon hospital in south London this weekend was captured by a photographer.
It was unboxed by a pharmacy technician wearing protective safety equipment, designed to cope with its -70C (-94F) storage requirements.
After going through final quality control checks, the batch was placed in a freezer to maintain the low temperature.
Saffron Cordery, of NHS Providers, said delivery of the first 800,000 doses was well under way. ‘We expect there to be up to four million doses in the country by the end of the December,’ she added.
The deliveries took place as the chief drugs regulator said the vaccine was ‘very safe, effective and will help the country turn a corner’.
Dr June Raine, chief executive of the MHRA, said strong vaccine uptake was key to getting rid of tier restrictions.
She likened the Pfizer vaccine to getting a flu jab or holiday inoculations, adding that there should be ‘real confidence’ in how rigorously it has been tested.
Appearing on the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show, Dr Raine said it was ‘vitally important’ that those eligible had the vaccination, to ‘ help defeat this terrible disease’.
She said: ‘I would really like to emphasise that the highest standards of scrutiny, of safety and of effectiveness and quality have been met – international standards. And so there should be real confidence in the rigour of our approval.
‘More than that, our Commission on Human Medicines has scrutinised every piece of data too, so there should be no doubt whatever that this is a very safe and highly effective vaccine. It will help us turn the corner.’
Her comments were echoed by Mr Hancock, who said the fast-tracked approval of the vaccine could mean restrictions are eased before the end of March. He said the plan was to vaccinate more than half of the most vulnerable groups by the end of February.
Mr Hancock added that he was hopeful that a second vaccine from the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca would be approved by the MHRA by Christmas.
This could allow the strictest of restrictions to be eased before Easter as had originally been planned, he said.
‘There’s no doubt that having the vaccine early will bring forward the moment when we can get rid of these blasted restrictions, but until then we have got to follow them,’ he told the Sunday Telegraph.
Mr Hancock also confirmed that a government advertising campaign fronted by celebrities and trusted voices will start within days to encourage take-up and counter antivaxxer misinformation.
Celebrities including Dame Maureen Lipman, 74, and Mail columnist John Humphrys, 77, have already announced that they will be getting the vaccine when called upon.
It was reported yesterday that the Queen, 94, planned to ‘let it be known’ when she has been vaccinated to encourage others to follow suit. In view of her age, she is eligible to be among the first to receive it.
However, senior royal sources said last night: ‘This issue is an entirely private one.’
The UK recorded 231 deaths from Covid-19 yesterday, down from 397 a day earlier. New infections hit 17,272, up from 15,539 on Saturday and 12,155 a week ago.