Mass vaccination programme is ‘impossible’ to deliver, GPS warn

THE vaccination programme GPS are being asked to deliver is “impossible” and could threaten patient care, doctors have warned.

They say that NHS England plans are “devoid of realistic expectations” and include “grossly unreasonable deadlines”.

The NHS is planning to open around 1,500 vaccination centres, mostly at large GP practices, with the aim of being ready to start delivering by Dec 1. But local medical committees (LMCS), which represent GPS, have objected to the schedules and warned that the demands placed on them could put other patient care in jeopardy.

Practices signing up for the programme – which will pay £12.58 to deliver each jab – must deliver at least 1,000 vaccines a week. Some jabs – including those produced by Pfizer, which has shown efficacy of 90 per cent in interim results – will be kept in batches of 1,000 frozen vaccines, which can only be stored for a matter of days.

Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire LMCS said the current plans were “unprofessional, overly prescriptive, lacking in proper planning, devoid of realistic expectations, opaque, vague and with imposition of grossly unreasonable deadlines”.

In a letter, seen by Pulse magazine, the organisations said it was not a question of whether GPS, who were “ready and willing”, should be involved but how. They said there was an “overwhelming consensus” among those in the LMC that there were “deep concerns regarding deliverability, practicality, logistics and patient safety due to the instability and compromise of other primary care service provision”.

They said some of the demands were “onerous and arguably impossible”, and proposed that practices should instead be paid to do as much as they could.

Surrey and Sussex LMCS suggested practices could be left out of pocket, despite the rates paid per jab being 25 per cent higher than for flu jabs. NHS England said the extra money should help with extra costs, such as training.

But Dr Darren Tymans, the Surrey and Sussex LMCS medical director, said practices that used a lot of GP and nurse time to deliver the jabs “run a risk of making a very significant loss”.

Vaccine developers Pfizer and BionTech are due to hand safety data to regulators within the next week, while rivals Astra Zeneca are expected to produce safety and efficacy data shortly.

Ministers have said regulators should be able to take a decision within days, leaving the possibility that vaccination could start on Dec 1. However, scientists cautioned that this may not be achieved until later in the month, and the majority of vaccines are not expected to be delivered until next year.

Council leaders said libraries, sports halls, athletics stadiums and car parks should be used to administer the injections. The Local Government Association said the national vaccination drive should use community facilities as well as 1,500 GP centres and drive-through centres, in order to speed up roll-out.

An NHS spokesman said: “As set out and agreed with the BMA, GPS will work together to deliver a vaccine from nominated sites while also continuing routine care with an additional £150m for GPS to support them to do this.”