COVID-19: Boris Johnson warns of ‘immense logistical challenges’ in distributing vaccine
Written by News on 02/12/2020
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 vaccine, which has approved for use in the UK.
Live updates on coronavirus from UK and around the world
“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 Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine.
The jab, which has been given the green light by independent health regulator MHRA, will be rolled out across the UK from early next week.
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 secured 40 million doses of the COVID-19 jab, which needs to be refrigerated at -70C (-94F).
Ten million are expected to be delivered to the UK by the end of the year, with patients needing two each.
Mr Johnson’s call for patience was echoed by the deputy chief medical officer Professor Jonathan Van-Tam, who appeared alongside the PM.
“Rollout won’t be instant,” he warned, as he called on people to stick to the current restrictions and general guidance over the coming months.
“Already on the ‘phase one’ list we have 30 million people who are going to be targeted,” he said.
“Even if you gave me the 60 million doses right now…. No system in the world could distribute those 60 million doses extremely quickly.”
Simon Stevens, chief executive of NHS England, said the majority of vaccinations will take place in “January through to March or April for the at-risk population”.
The rollout of the vaccine will start at 50 “hospital hubs” in England next week, Mr Stevens told the news conference.
Again stressing this would be “logistically complicated”, 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.”
The government’s Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation’s (JCVI) priority list for the first phase of the vaccine rollout is as follows:
1 – Residents in a care home for older adults and their carers
2 – All those aged 80 and over. Frontline health and social care workers
3 – All those aged 75 and over
4 – All those aged 70 and over. Clinically extremely vulnerable individuals
5 – All those aged 65 and over
6 – All individuals aged 16-64 with underlying health conditions which put them at higher risk of serious disease and mortality
7 – All those aged 60 and over
8 – All those aged 55 and over
9 – All those aged 50 and over
Professor Van-Tam also appealed to people on the fence about vaccines, saying: “We need people to take it – this vaccine isn’t going to help you if you don’t take it.”
Health Secretary Matt Hancock has said he is unsure how many people would need to be immunised before restrictions can be lifted.
He told the Commons earlier that while it is known that the vaccine protects an individual against the virus, it is not yet clear whether it has an impact on reducing transmission.
The hope is that the prevalence of COVID-19 will decrease as more vulnerable people are vaccinated, paving the way for a relaxation in the rules, the health secretary explained.
Asked by Labour’s shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth how many NHS staff he expects to be vaccinated by January, Mr Hancock said in his reply that 800,000 doses have passed batch testing.
Mr Ashworth offered to “stand alongside” Mr Hancock on “any platform or in any TV studio” to promote take-up of the vaccine.
The health secretary took up the offer, telling the Commons: “If we can, together, encourage anybody to take a vaccine who may be hesitant, by appearing together and being vaccinated together, then of course I’d be happy to do that.”
Mr Johnson’s press secretary also suggested the PM could have a jab live on TV – but only if it did not prevent someone more in need from getting one.
(c) Sky News 2020: COVID-19: Boris Johnson warns of ‘immense logistical challenges’ in distributing vaccine
