Tens of thousands of people in the UK will receive an effective and high-quality COVID-19 vaccine from next week, with care home staff and residents taking priority in the list of recipients.
Following rigorous clinical trials involving thousands of people and extensive analysis of the vaccine’s safety, quality and effectiveness by experts from the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), Pfizer/BioNTech’s vaccine has been authorised for use in the UK.
The NHS has decades of experience in rolling out successful widespread vaccination programmes and has put in place extensive deployment plans.
In line with the recommendations of the independent Joint Committee for Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), the vaccine will be rolled out to the priority groups including care home residents and staff, people over 80 and health and care workers, then to the rest of the population in order of age and risk, including those who are clinically extremely vulnerable.
The vaccine is given in two doses - three weeks apart - and data from clinical trials showed the vaccine is 94% effective in protecting people over the age of 65 from coronavirus, with trials suggesting it works equally well in people of all ages, races and ethnicities. There were also no serious safety concerns reported in the trials.
NHS England will outline further details on deployment shortly, but the plans will include:
•Hospital hubs for NHS and care staff and older patients to get vaccinated;
•Local community services with local teams and GPs already signing up to take part in the programme;
•Vaccination centres across the country, ensuring people can access a vaccine regardless of where they live.
As the JCVI have made clear, there will need to be flexibility in terms of operational challenges around delivery of the vaccine to those in care homes. In line with the advice, every effort will be made to supply the vaccine and offer vaccinations to care home residents and the vaccine will be delivered according to clinical prioritisation and operational necessity.
The vaccine will be available for free across the UK and the Government is working with the devolved administrations to ensure it is deployed fairly across the UK under the Barnett formula.
Through the Vaccines Taskforce, the UK has secured early access to 357 million doses of seven of the most promising vaccine candidates so far. To date, the government has invested over £230 million into manufacturing a successful vaccine. In the Chancellor’s Spending Review, published on 25 November, it was announced that the Government has made more than £6 billion available to develop and procure successful vaccines.
The full prioritisation list can be found here.
