THE Covid vaccine will arrive in the UK in “hours, not days”, according to England’s deputy chief medical officer.
Jonathan Van-Tam confirmed the Pfizer jab will arrive on British soil “very shortly”, after it was approved for use yesterday.
Professor Van-Tam told the BBC: “Now, there is a technical issue related to the Pfizer vaccine that we currently expect to receive very, very shortly in the UK, and I do mean hours, not days.”
The technical issue he was referring to was the fact the virus must be stored at -70C, and, once it comes out to defrost, it has to be stored at 2C to 8C, but only for five days.
In total 32 NHS trusts are standing by to roll out the Pfizer Covid vaccine from next week, as early as Monday.
They have been chosen because they have super-cold freezers that are able to store the vaccines at -70C.
The trusts will act as “hubs” which will offer the jabs to people in their area in order of priority, as well helping with co-ordinating distribution.
A London hospital is expected to be the first to give out a Covid-19 vaccine at 7am on Monday morning, The Telegraph reported.
The unnamed hospital is one of seven in the capital to receive batches of the Pfizer jab over the weekend, after it was approved by regulators yesterday.
It could be Croydon University Hospital, Guy’s & St Thomas’ NHS Trust, Kings College, Princess Royal University Hospital, Royal Free, St George’s University Hospitals or University College Hospitals.
Vaccine deployment minister Nadhim Zahawi said: “The NHS has decades of experience in delivering highly successful vaccination programmes and has put in an enormous amount of work to get ready to roll out a Covid-19 vaccine to those most in need as quickly as possible.
“Once extensive quality checks have taken place, it can be transported to vaccination sites across the UK and carefully unpacked ready for vaccinations to begin this month, with large-scale vaccination happening in the new year.”
Once the vaccine arrives in the UK from Pfizer’s plant in Belgium, batches will be checked at a central depot to ensure their quality.
Public Health England (PHE) will process orders placed by the NHS for next-day delivery to hospital hubs around the UK, PA news agency reported.
NHS boss Sir Simon Stevens has said the service is “ten out of ten” ready to roll out the “biggest vaccination campaign in our history”.
But he said the approval needs to be “tempered with realism”, because it would take “months, not weeks” to get the jab in people’s arms.
He set out more detail about the rollout of the newly-approved vaccine during a Downing Street press briefing.
The phased-roll out of the jab was given in key points:
- NEXT WEEK: From next week, 53 hospital hubs will start giving out vaccines to the over-80s, care home staff and others identified by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) who may already have a hospital appointment coming up.
- NEXT FEW WEEKS: That will be followed in subsequent weeks by GP practices, growing to over 1,000 across England. GPs will get in touch with at-risk patients offering them to come in and get their jab.
- NEW YEAR: Sir Simon said that “as even more vaccine becomes available” at the start of 2021, the NHS would be able to “switch on” mass vaccination centres, which would immunise thousands of people a week. Pharmacies will probably start giving the jabs out from January.
- THROUGH SPRING: The bulk of the programme for the at-risk population is likely to take place between January and April.
Care home residents, and their carers, were supposed to be prioritised for the vaccine.
But because of the way the vaccine is distributed it makes delivery a logistical nightmare, and care homes in Wales have been told they will need to wait.
The vaccines, once taken out of the freezer, can only be thawed in batches of 1,000. But each care home looks after a maximum of several hundred residents, sometimes below 100.
And once they are thawed, it they can only be stored at fridge temperatures for five days.
Officials have to work out how to split the huge batch and how to transport them so none of the vials go to waste.
Only when regulators approve the “splitting” of the packs will it be distributed to care homes, Sir Simon admitted.
The Midlands has the most hospital hubs that will receive the vaccine, at 13. Countess of Chester Hospital, Northampton General Hospital and Walsall Healthcare are among those.
Eight hospitals in the North West are preparing to dish out the vaccine, one being Liverpool Royal Hospital.
Eight hospitals are in each of the South East and South West, and seven each in the East of England and London.
One hospital is in the Yorkshire region – United Lincolnshire Hospitals – and one is in the North East – The Newcastle Upon Type Hospitals.
Northern regions of England have been the hardest hit by the virus, with high R rates forcing huge areas into severe restrictions for months.
But there have been concerns for soaring infection rates in the South of England, while cases are declining faster in the North.
A number of the hospitals with the capacity to store the vaccines currently have the most Covid-19 patients. These include Sheffield Teaching Hospitals, University Hospitals Birmingham and Leeds Teaching Hospital.
