DAY HOPE ARRIVED
First jabs tomorrow as nation’s biggest ever vaccination campaign begins
THE first Covid-19 jabs have arrived at hospitals, ready for the start of the UK’s biggest ever vaccination programme.
Heralding hope after a grim year, thousands of doses were delivered to teams preparing to begin injections for the most vulnerable from tomorrow.
Optimistic Health Secretary Matt Hancock said it could mean pandemic tier restrictions lifted by March and he “can’t cant wait wait” for normal life to return.
AFTER months of misery and over 61,000 deaths, hope arrived yesterday in unremarkable looking boxes, each containing 975 vials of coronavirus vaccine.
Pictures last night showed the first batch being unloaded from a refrigerated truck and carefully stored by a specialist technician.
The delivery in South London came two days after the Pfizer/BioNTech jabs arrived in the UK from Belgium.
Louise Coughlan, joint chief pharmacist at the Croydon Health Services NHS Trust, said: “This is a momentous occasion.
“To know we are among the first in the country to receive the vaccine – and therefore among the first in the world – is amazing.”
The UK has secured 40 million doses, enough to inoculate 20 million people with two injections each.
In the first stage of what the NHS is calling “the largest-scale vaccination campaign” in UK history, 800,000 doses will be given at dozens of hospital hubs from tomorrow.
People aged
80 and over, care home staf f and
NHS workers are first in line. The rollout across the UK is being undertaken by Public Health England and the NHS in England, g Scotland, Wales and Nor thern Ireland.
It comes as Matt Hancock claimed a second vaccine, by Oxford University and AstraZeneca, may be approved this month by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency.
Yesterday the Health Secretary said: “It may come before Christmas, it may come early in the new year.” He added a successful rollout could lead to tier restrictions being g scrapped by March.
The Queen and Prince Philip are both expected to have the jab within weeks but palace sources insist they “will not jump the qu eu e”. Th e monarch, 94 and Duke of Edinburgh, 99, will be eligible in the second round. Palace sources suggested they would be reluctant to go public with their decision to be vaccinated, despite ministers feeling boost public take-up.
Yesterday, MHRA chief Dr June Raine said there is “no doubt” the jab is “very safe and highly effective”.
She told BBC’s Andrew Marr Show it is “vitally important” people trust in that fact, so enough of the population take the jab.
“The highest standards of scrutiny, of safety and effectiveness and quality have been met,” she said.
Saffron Cordery, deputy chief executive of NHS Providers, said up to four million doses will be here this year.
But she admitted getting them to care homes and community-based it would
To know we are among the first in the world to get the vaccine is amazing
CROYDON PHARMACIST ON ARRIVAL OF THE FIRST DOSES
vaccination centres was no easy task. She told Sky News’ Sophy Ridge On Sunday only hospitals have facilities to store it at the required minus 70C.
She said: “Right now they can only be administered in hospitals.
“But trusts up and down the country are working with the MHRA to see if they can get them distributed more closely to care homes.”
There is still no guaranteed date for when care home residents will be vaccinated and Mr Hancock admitted there remained “significant challenges” to overcome.
The vaccine can only be moved four times within its “cold chain” storage and the boxes of 975 doses need to be split so they can be taken to c a re homes.
Dr Raine said: “We ha v e approved how the vaccine can be put into small packs, but obviously, what we’re doing is giving guidance on how well that is done.
“Our goal is to ensure the vaccine reaches people in care homes as safely as possible, so everyone is working to make sure t h a t happens.” P r o f Stephen Pow i s , nat iona l med ica l director of the NHS , said : “Despite the huge complexities, hospitals will kick-start the first phase of the largest- scale vaccination campaign in our country’s history from Tuesday.”
The Government said a further 231 people had died within 28 days of testing positive for Covid-19 as of Sunday, bringing the UK to 61,245 deaths. Total cases are now 1,723,242.
Mr Hancock has reportedly been referring to Tuesday as “V-Day” and told the Sunday Telegraph he “can’t wait” to scrap the three-tier system of coronavirus restrictions before March and “get back to living by mutual respect and personal responsibility, not laws set in Parliament”.
When asked if the vaccine could mean restrictions end earlier than planned, he said: “Yes, it will... but until then we have got to follow them.”
It came as the Department of Health and senior Ministry of Defence sources said millions of doses could be flown here by military planes from January 1, to get around any travel chaos caused by Brexit.
But Dr Raine believes “we are ready” for any disruption that may occur.
“We’ve practised, we are fully prepared for any outcome,” she said.