COVID-19: Boris Johnson warns of ‘immense logistical challenges’ in distributing vaccine

It will take “some months” for the UK’s most vulnerable people to be vaccinated against coronavirus, the prime minister has said.

Speaking at a Downing Street news conference, Boris Johnson acknowledged there will be “immense logistical challenges” in distributing the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, which has been approved for use in the UK.

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“It will inevitably take some months before all the most vulnerable are protected – long, cold months,” he said.

“So it’s all the more vital that as we celebrate this scientific achievement we are not carried away with over-optimism or fall into the naive belief that the struggle is over.”

The PM was speaking after the UK became the first country in the world to approve the vaccine.

The jab, which has been given the green light by the independent health regulator, will be rolled out from early next week when 800,000 doses are due to arrive in the UK.

Mr Johnson said it would be the “biggest programme of mass vaccination in the history of the UK”.

Elderly people in care homes and their carers are top of the list to get the vaccine, which studies have shown is 95% effective and works in all age groups.

The government has ordered 40 million doses of the jab so far, enough to immunise 20 million people.

But despite being at the top of the priority list, the head of the NHS has said that most care home residents will initially need to wait for their vaccine because of difficulties in transporting it.

Sir Simon Stevens, chief executive of NHS England, said that – because the jab has to be stored at such low temperatures – it can only be moved a few times.

Packs of doses – which contain 975 doses – also cannot be safely split at this moment in time.

The first people to get the vaccine will receive it from 50 hospital hubs.

They will be 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.

As more doses become available, GP practices will then start operating local vaccination centres, Sir Simon said.

The majority of vaccinations will take place in “January through to March or April for the at-risk population”, he added.

Speaking about the logistical challenges, he said: “We have to move it around the country in a carefully controlled way initially at minus 70 degrees centigrade, or thereabouts, and there are a limited number of further movements that we are allowed by the regulator to make.

“It also comes in packs of 975 people’s doses so you can’t at this point just distribute it to every individual GP surgery or pharmacy as we normally would for many of the other vaccines available on the NHS.”

Sir Simon said that if regulators give approval for a safe way of splitting packs, care homes would be able to receive stocks.

He continued: “And then as even more vaccine becomes available, finally we will be able to switch on large vaccination centres across the country and indeed invite local community pharmacists, probably at the beginning of January, to begin to offer vaccination as well.”

Sir Simon stressed later in the news conference that the NHS was “raring to go” to vaccinate people in care homes.

“Just as soon as we have the regulatory sign-off that we can do that, that we can get the jabs to the care homes so that the GPs and the nurses can arrive and give the care home residents that COVID vaccination, we will do that,” he said.

“We – at this point, with a fair wind – fully expect that that will be in the first tranche of priorities for vaccination during this month.”

The PM also spoke about the difficulty of getting the vaccine into care homes, telling the briefing that there is a risk the vaccine could “degenerate” if it is “improperly handled”.

Deputy chief medical officer Professor Jonathan Van-Tam said it was a “complex product with a very fragile cold chain”.

“It’s not a yoghurt that can be taken out of the fridge and put back in multiple times. It’s really tricky to handle,” he said.

Pfizer and BioNTech have said the vaccine can be sent to care homes, provided it travels for no more than six hours after leaving cold storage and is then put in a normal fridge at 2C to 8C.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said the logistical issues had to be overcome because “care homes have suffered enough”.

“What we now need from the government is a practical plan for rolling this out swiftly, safely and fairly,” he said.

Professor Van-Tam appealed to people who are unsure about getting a vaccine, telling them: “Everyone wants social distancing to come to an end – we are fed-up with it.

“Nobody wants lockdowns and to see the damage they do. But if you want that dream to come true as quickly as it can come true, then you have to take the vaccine when it is offered to you.

“Low uptake will almost certainly make restrictions last longer.”

He said the current restrictions, including social distancing and England’s tiered system of rules, will need to stay in place “for now”.

“If we relax too soon, if we just, kind of, go ‘oh, the vaccine’s here, let’s abandon caution’, all you are going to do is create a tidal wave of infections,” he said.

Asked by Sky’s political editor Beth Rigby if the tiers will continue beyond the end of January, when MPs are due to vote on them again, the PM replied: “I think for the time being, you’ve got to take it that tiering is going to be a very, very important part of our campaign against coronavirus.

“It’s absolutely vital that people stick to the guidance and follow the rules.”

Mr Johnson added that there are “weeks, months of work to go” before restrictions can be eased.

But he said he was now “sure and certain” that life can start returning to normal in 2021.

Meanwhile, the PM’s press secretary has suggested Mr Johnson could have a jab live on TV – but only if it did not prevent someone more in need from getting one.

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Analysis: PM reveals his metric for success after vaccine breakthrough
By Tom Rayner, political correspondent

After countless Downing Street press conferences where so much about the future was in doubt, Boris Johnson set out to deliver a message underpinned by certainty.

This evening there was no need for graphs, terrifying projections or colour-coded maps.

He said he was now “certain” the arrival of a clinically approved vaccine meant there was a way out of the pandemic, but he was equally sure “the struggle isn’t over” and that the “plan does depend on all of us continuing to make sacrifices”.

But despite attempts by Mr Johnson to capture the moment with martial arts metaphors, it was the deputy chief medical officer Professor Jonathan Van-Tam who seemed to capture those dual certainties with greater impact and eloquence.

He said he was “quite emotional” about the news this morning and reassured the public they were right to feel that way too.

“Everyone needs to be delighted with the news today,” he said, “but equally patient and realistic”.

And the reason for the need for patience was laid out over the course of the press conference.

The key example was the acknowledgment that despite care home staff and residents being considered the most vulnerable category, the Pfizer vaccine will not be easy to get to them.

Cases of the vaccine contain 975 doses, and those consignments cannot be separated down into smaller units.

Those cases would be too large for most individual homes, so it will require the medical regulator to change its permissions for this particular vaccine, or the approval of the less logistically demanding Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine, for doses to be quickly rolled out.

Even if this particular challenge were to be overcome, head of the NHS Sir Simon Stevens made the point that even the most vulnerable are unlikely to get the required second dose until the New Year, so the need for social distancing and other restrictions will still be required for some time to come.

Indeed, Jonathan Van-Tam suggested he did not believe COVID-19 would ever be entirely eradicated and was likely to become seasonal like flu.

“Do I think we be able to throw a big party like the end of the war? No I don’t”, he said, adding that he thinks some of the habits of handwashing and keeping some distance could be enduring.

That seemed to alarm the prime minister, who perhaps saw it as undermining the message of certainty that normality would return.

It was a revealing moment, because it seemed to gives a sense of Mr Johnson’s personal metric for success.

So much so the deputy chief medical officer felt the need to clarify he was talking about habits, rather than an enduring need for government restrictions.

“Well, who knows, who knows,” said the PM, uncertainly.

(c) Sky News 2020: COVID-19: Boris Johnson warns of ‘immense logistical challenges’ in distributing vaccine