‘Care home over-80s won’t get treatment they were promised’
CARE homes fear vaccines won’t be delivered to them until next year, despite Government promises they would be first on the list for jabs.
They have already been told their elderly residents must be bussed to hospital hubs when the vaccination programme begins on Tuesday.
But operators say the reality is many will simply not be able to make it there.
The first batch of the Pfizer vaccine is 800,000 doses. But because the vaccine is given in two doses, only 400,000 of the most vulnerable will be able to have the jabs.
There are about 500,000 people aged over 80 living in care homes but they will have to wait because any over-80s having hospital treatment will be first in the queue.
Getting the vaccine to them is further complicated because it must be transported at minus 70ºC and can only be kept outside ultra cold storage for a matter of days, so it will be delivered to 50 hospital hubs in England.
Mark Adams, CEO of social care charity Community Integrated Care, said care homes had been given false hope by the Government.
He warned: “The odds for getting this done is incredibly difficult. Things are going on that seem to be designed to make things as difficult as possible for the care industry.
“No booking system has been put in place in hospitals and how would people travel by bus when we have to consider social distancing?”
National Care Association chair Nadra Ahmed said: “There’s no way we are going to get our residents to a site in a hospital setting.
“Despite the fact the messages are very clear – that we’re the priority – the reality is we can’t be the priority group because there’s a practical barrier to it. The reality of this particular vaccine is it can’t get into care homes.”
But MHRA chief Dr June Raine insisted vaccines would be inside care homes “definitely within the next two weeks”.