NHS refuses to commit to 2m jabs a week as Oxford roll-out begins

THE NHS has declined to make a commitment to delivering two million doses of the Covid-19 vaccine a week, according to sources, on the eve of the roll-out today of the Oxford-astrazeneca jab.

The NHS said the supply of vaccines remained the “main barrier” to delivering tens of millions of doses despite manufacturers insisting jabs were being delivered to the timetable agreed with the Government.

In an interview with the BBC yesterday, Boris Johnson said he expected “tens of millions” of doses to be administered over the next three months but was unable to elaborate on how that would be achieved.

The Prime Minister, who is expected to attend the Oxford jab roll-out at a hospital in England today, said: “I wish I could give you here and now any sort of elaboration on the figures – you have already heard about how we hope to get up to two million a week and so on. I can’t give you that yet.”

Health sources have counselled against high expectations and pointed out the huge difficulties in creating an army of vaccinators and the logistics to go with it to deliver the biggest vaccination programme in British history.

A source said: “We do have to manage expectations. You cannot just vaccinate two million people a week from nothing.” The source suggested an alleged lack of supply was not the only problem, adding: “The NHS has never said it will deliver a target of two million a week.”

The NHS has already given first doses of the Pfizer-biontech vaccine to over a million people – more than the rest of Europe combined – and is thought to have between four and five million doses in reserve. Mr Johnson said yesterday “there are a few million more Pfizer (vaccines) still to be used”.

An NHS spokesman said yesterday: “The main barrier to vaccine delivery will be availability of the vaccine, and it is completely untrue that staffing constraints are currently standing in the way of vaccine rollout.”

‘We do have to manage expectations. You cannot just vaccinate two million people a week from nothing’

BORIS JOHNSON insisted yesterday that tens of millions of doses of Covid-19 vaccine would be delivered by the end of March. The Prime Minister refused to say how many people would receive the jabs but told The Andrew Marr Show on BBC One: “What I can tell you is that … we do hope that we will be able to do tens of millions in the course of the next three months.”

The first big step to that goal begins today with the roll-out of the Oxford-Astrazeneca vaccine.

But the target is a testing one for the NHS, which is facing the logistical nightmare of launching the biggest ever vaccination programme, as infection rates are spiralling out of control.

Mr Johnson said the target was two million jabs a week, widely acknowledged as the minimum if the most vulnerable people in society are to receive at least one dose of vaccine – two are required – by the end of March.

But a health source warned The Daily Telegraph not to expect huge numbers overnight. “We have never said we will do two million jabs a week,” said the source. “We have to manage expectations. You cannot vaccinate two million people a week from nothing.”

Vaccine roll-out

If the NHS does have targets, it isn’t sharing them. Each week, the numbers vaccinated, including those aged over 80, are being published, with the figures keenly watched. So far, just over one million people have had the Pfizer vaccine since it was first given to Margaret Keenan, 91, at 6.31am on Dec 8. That equates to 250,000 doses a week, far short of the two million doses a week experts say is needed.

Yesterday, Tony Blair said if he was still prime minister he would be demanding five million weekly doses.

NHS sources have stressed logistical problems and called for a reality check on what is achievable, certainly in the early days. They need to train up an army of vaccinators, prepare sites outside of hospitals and GP surgeries for vaccinations – such as village halls and possibly larger-scale arenas – and make sure that IT systems work to ensure those most in need are vaccinated first.

But critics will wonder why the rollout is taking time when authorities have had many months to prepare.

Supply

Mr Johnson has blamed a lack of vaccine supply for the current level of take up. “The rate-limiting factor at the moment, as they say, is supply not distribution,” he told a Downing Street press conference, while Prof Chris Whitty, England’s Chief Medical Officer, has said “vaccine shortage is a reality that cannot be wished away”.

But the pharmaceutical companies disagree. There are officially 530,000 doses of the Oxford-astrazeneca vaccine ready to go from today, along with an additional 450,000 arriving in the next 24 hours, according to Sir John Bell, Oxford University regius professor of medicine and a government adviser. On top of that, a further three million doses are in vials awaiting safety checks, a process that should take a few days, with a further 15 million awaiting “fill and finish” – the process of filling vials and packaging doses. Astrazeneca says that process should take only days. Each batch, according to government sources, needs to pass a 20-day sterility test and randomised quality checks.

Meanwhile, Pfizer has shipped “millions” of doses to the UK in 21 shipments. The first contained 800,000. The Telegraph understands there are about five million Pfizer doses in vials. Added up, there are close to 24 million doses of vaccine either ready for use or available in a short space of time. The Government has committed to buying 40 million Pfizer doses and 100 million of the Oxford jab. Both firms say they are on track to deliver the vaccines to the agreed timetable.

Vaccinators

An army of tens of thousands of medics and volunteer support staff have been recruited to deliver the Oxford vaccine, according to NHS England. They have already either begun or completed online training, the NHS said, though it refused to give precise numbers.

Only last week, however, GPS warned of a need for a bigger recruitment drive. Retired doctors, military personnel, midwives, optometrists and even firefighters and lifeguards could all be signed up.

Dr Keir Shiels, a paediatrician who volunteered for vaccine duty, wrote on Twitter of how his clinic in Wanstead, east London, vaccinated 1,125 people in 13 hours. But the session required more than 20 staff, including seven vaccinators, two paramedics, seven administrators, two pharmacists to prepare vials and five “queue wranglers”.

The Oxford vaccine should be easier to administer than the Pfizer jab, which requires more careful handling.

St John Ambulance is offering up 30,000 volunteers, including 10,000 to administer the vaccine and 20,000 in support roles.

Clinics

More than 730 vaccination sites are up and running, including major hospitals, GP hubs and village halls, with another 180 “Gp-led services” and 100 hospitals due to come online this week. In all, there will be about 1,000 sites by the end of this week.

Mr Johnson said 540 GP sites and 101 hospitals were being supplied with the initial batch of 530,000 Oxford doses.

The Government has supplied a list of the locations for 107 hospital hubs and 587 vaccination sites.

The first vaccinations will be carried out in six hospitals as a trial run. It is believed that Tesco has also offered its distribution arm, while Boots is opening three vaccination sites, in Halifax, Huddersfield and Gloucester.

There have been reports of a postcode lottery. Nottingham, for example, has at present only its main hospital able to deliver jabs, while towns including Bedford have no centres at all.

Some vulnerable patients have already had two jabs, but others have complained of hearing nothing from GPS or hospitals. Sue Lenkowski, 60, said her 91-year-old father, Ken, had been devastated to learn that his two long-awaited appointments to receive the Pfizer jab in Sheffield would not take place, due to a “supply problem”.

Red tape

Mr Johnson yesterday vowed to clear away bureaucratic red tape that is being blamed for deterring volunteers, such as retired doctors and nurses, from signing up. Asked about reports of additional training and forms concerning “deradicalisation measures” and “fire drills”, the Prime Minister said: “I know that the Health Secretary is taking steps to get rid of that pointless bureaucracy.”

According to reports, there are 21 separate forms that volunteers need to fill out. Nicola Thomas, a professor of kidney care at St Bartholomew’s Hospital, London, said: “To be asked for proof of address, two references and additional e-learning is really too much to bear.” However, an NHS nurse said complaints of red tape were “sensationalist” and “missing the important point” – that a “tight, well-trained workforce of full-time vaccinators” was key to a successful roll-out.