Fifty special vaccination centres will help hospitals and GPs administer at least 2m jabs a week by the end of the month, according to the government’s long-awaited immunisation plan.
Ministers promised to vaccinate the 15 million Britons in the top four priority groups over the next five weeks and the 17 million in the remaining five groups by spring, although no firm date was given.
The plan was unveiled on Monday as the NHS confirmed that 866,000 people in England had received their first vaccination in the week to 10 January, taking the initial total to 2.3m doses across the UK – a significant step-up but still below the rate required.
The plan promised by the end of January there would be “capacity to vaccinate several hundred thousand a day, and at least 2 million people per week”.
That would appear to be a slippage from last week, when Boris Johnson promised “to deliver hundreds of thousands of vaccines per day by 15 January” if “all goes well”.
Seven national vaccination centres opened in England on Monday in addition to 200 hospital sites and hundreds of GP centres. People aged 80 and over were invited to make a return journey of up to 90 minutes by car if they wanted to receive a jab at one of the major sites.
The plan promised a further increase to 50 special centres by the end of the month. But there were no plans for a 24-hour service as there was “not a clamour” from the public for appointments beyond 8pm, Downing Street said.
The document said there were 12 million people in England and 15 million across the UK in the top four priority groups, who include all people aged 70 and over, NHS and care workers, care home residents and those deemed to be clinically extremely vulnerable.
These people are to have received the first dose of a vaccine – from either Pfizer/BioNTech or Oxford/AstraZeneca – by 15 February, in five weeks’ time. As of 10 January, 1.96 million people had received the first dose in England, meaning that it would require 2m injections a week from now to hit the first milestone.
It “will likely take until spring” to hit the second milestone, the plan added, which is to offer a first dose of either vaccine to the next five groups – which include all those aged 50 and over and people between 16 and 64 with serious health conditions.
The second group comprises 14 million people in England, a total of 17 million across the UK, which would take a further seven weeks to Easter on 4 April if the target of 2 million jabs a week is achieved from this week.
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Priority groups are the same across the UK’s four nations. By the end of Sunday, Scotland had provided 163,377 first doses, Wales said its health service had given 86,000 people the vaccine and Northern Ireland 78,005.
People should be able to have access to Covid-19 vaccination centres 24/7, Labour has said.
Angela Rayner, the deputy leader, said: “Our wonderful NHS staff are rising to the challenge, as they always do, to deliver the vaccine.
“The British people have sacrificed so much, now the government must deliver for the British people. The prime minister needs to use this lockdown to develop a round-the-clock vaccine programme, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
“If the government can’t sort out 24/7 vaccinations they need to admit that this is as a result of their own shortcomings, not blame the public and NHS staff.”
Many medics across the NHS say they are confident that the 2m-a-week target can be achieved as long as the supply of the vaccine is maintained. But some MPs complained in the Commons of chaotic supply.
The Labour MP Rebecca Long-Bailey said that in her constituency of Salford there had been “little or no notice” of a delivery of vaccines and “some batches hadn’t turned up at all”.
The vaccines minister, Nadhim Zahawi, acknowledged there had been “lumpiness in the delivery in the early days” but said that was improving with the efforts of NHS staff working with army logistics experts.
For the rest of the adult population aged between 18 and 49, there is little detail. Another plan would be published “once all at-risk groups 1 to 9 have been offered their first dose of vaccine,” the document said, although over the weekend the health secretary, Matt Hancock, said all adults would be offered a jab by autumn.
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The vaccination plan references targeted inoculation “of those at high risk of exposure and/or those delivering key public services” – potentially including groups such as teachers.
With both the Pfizer and the AstraZeneca vaccine, two doses are required for protection to be fully effective, but the government has decided to space out the dosing to 12 weeks to inoculate more people quicker.
However, the figures released for England show large numbers of people – 354,632 – received a second dose of the Pfizer jab last week, regardless of the change in the guidance.
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