Only ‘hospital hubs’ will be able to administer the Pfizer Covid vaccine in the first instance, the Department of Health and Social Care has said.
Meanwhile, health secretary Matt Hancock told the House of Commons that GPs will only be part of the ‘second’ stage of the Covid vaccine deployment.
They said this is due to the nature of the Pfizer/BioNTech Covid vaccine, which was approved for UK use by the MHRA today, and the logistical challenges this presents.
A press release from the Government said: ‘Delivering the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine is complex as it needs to be stored at very cold temperatures and moved carefully, so at first we will only be able to deliver it from “Hospital Hubs.” Defrosting the vaccine takes a few hours and then additional time is required to prepare the vaccine for administering.’
And health secretary Matt Hancock told the House of Commons in a statement this afternoon: ‘While we will begin vaccination next week, the bulk of the vaccinations will be in the new year…
‘First, we will begin vaccination in hospital hubs. Second, we will deploy through local community services, including GPs and in due course pharmacies too.
‘And, third, we will stand up vaccination centres in conference centres and sports venues, to vaccinate large numbers of people as more vaccines come on stream.’
BMA GP committee chair Dr Richard Vautrey called on the Government and NHS England to provide clarity on ‘how exactly practices will be involved’ in the first phase of delivery ‘given the much-publicised practical restraints around storage and transportation’ of the Pfizer vaccine.
He said: ‘Given these challenges – recognised by the JCVI today – some people may have to wait a little longer for a more stable vaccine to become available and we’d urge the public to be patient.
‘We don’t expect practices to be getting any vaccines for at least another two weeks and we believe the campaign will begin in full force in the New Year.’
But Dr Vautrey reiterated that GPs, practice nurses and support staff ‘will play a pivotal role’ in vaccinating the public ‘in the coming months’.
A BMA spokesperson added: ‘It looks like in the first instance this will be delivered in hospitals, and we’re awaiting clarification on what general practice’s role will be in delivering this specific vaccine.’
RCGP chair Professor Martin Marshall said: ‘Given the logistical challenges around delivery and storage associated with the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, it is likely the focus of its delivery will be in hospital hubs and mass vaccination centres. However, we’re awaiting details of this and how it will work – including if and how general practice will be involved, even if not directly delivering this particular vaccine.
‘General practice will, of course, play a key role in delivering future vaccines that are more suitable for delivery at a community level – as we hope the Oxford vaccine will be, if it is approved for use by the regulators – and we’ve been preparing for this as best we can with the details we have.’
Earlier today, the Welsh Government said it ‘will not be possible’ to vaccinate care home residents with the Pfizer Covid vaccine due to practical constraints.
The UK Government has yet to declare it will not be possible to get the Pfizer vaccine into care homes, but today Boris Johnson and the JCVI both admitted there were ‘logistical problems’ that need to be overcome to achieve this.
The Government’s press release said that there ‘will need to be flexibility in terms of operational challenges around delivery of the vaccine to those in care homes’.
The DHSC reiterated that ‘every effort will be made to supply vaccine and offer vaccinations to care home residents’, with the vaccine to be delivered ‘according to clinical prioritisation and operational necessity.’
DHSC told Pulse to approach NHS England for clarification of what this means for the GP vaccine effort and timelines. Pulse has asked NHS England to supply the clarification.
The health secretary also told the Commons that ‘following authorisation, the next stage is to test each batch of the vaccine for safety’, adding: ‘I can confirm that batch testing has been completed this morning for the first deployment of 800,000 doses of the vaccine.’
READERS' COMMENTS [7]
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So JCVI list and NHSE guidance unravelling before it starts. Would it not be preferable to work out the logistics prior to issuing ES specifications with clauses like 9.5.7 stating the administration of different vaccines would be fine? How do they expect anybody to sign up by 7/12? I understand the anxiety to get going, but this can only undermine confidence in the process and the veracity of the immunisation data being presented.
Gutted.
“a spokesperson for DHSC confirmed that they never liked GPs anyway, and the results of a strategic review (in collaboration with PWC and Deloitte) had identified that GPs were considered “too thick” to deliver on the “very realistic” covid vaccine delivery schedule that was negotiated in a completely fair and balanced way with GPC, earlier this year”
If we wont be getting vaccines for 2 weeks why the deadline of 4 working days to commit to this. I didnt read anything in the ES about what happens if the PCN makes a loss, you cant dump the ES if it becomes apparent that you are making a loss.
Phrasing it like they’re doing you a favour.
The vagaries of this story actually stem from the travesty of the claim from the health secretary that NHS was well ready for this Covid vaccination. There was no planning , no consultation with no common sense and NHSE just threw highly bureaucratic exercises for PCNs to complete to beef up this so called readiness . Ignominious and disingenuous.
It was a desperate reflex action of the government mirroring the calamity of the boldness when the chief medical officer and health secretary both declared NHS being well prepared for Covid 19 back in February/March .
Reality is GPs are more likely to deliver the more user-friendly Astra—Zeneca vaccines in the new year .
I hope Dr Ho is correct and PCNs will only have the AZ vaccine to administer. Stuff our own practice fridges with it and the vast majority of surgeries could do this akin to some very well run flu clinics , albeight there is more data recording and chasing up of refusniks after the first vaccine. However the scale of vaccinating most of the population twice means it’s a job too big for us alone, so hopefully these Nightingale clinics will do more ( they can start with the Pfizer vaccine ). Let’s hope they don’t expect us to provide labour for those too. The ES doesn’t exclude that option.