GPs Expect Jabs For Over-85s and Frontline Medics ‘Within Weeks’

GPs have been told that there will be a coronavirus jab available to administer to the over-85s and front-line medics within four weeks.

A coronavirus vaccine could be rolled out for the over-85s and front-line workers in as little as four weeks, reports suggest.  Plans are in the process of being drawn up for the long-awaited jab to be administered by GPs, teams visiting care homes and at-scale delivery centres at the start of December if one is approved.

Multiple sources told GP publication ‘Pulse’ there are two vaccines earmarked for use, including one that requires two shots and needs to be stored at 70C (158F). NHS England has yet to confirm the reports but Government sources said that they have heard the health service is on standby to deliver the vaccine in December.

One GP claimed he had known about it since last week but ‘was keeping schtum as requested while we got our act together’, complaining about there being ‘lots of unanswered questions’. However, scientists urge caution and think it is still ‘very early’ for a vaccine to clear rigorous clinical trials and be approved by regulators.

It follows reports that the George Eliot Hospital NHS Trust, in Warwickshire, and NHS Lothian, in Scotland, are both putting plans in place for the possible roll-out of a COVID-19 vaccine to their staff in December A Department of Health spokesperson said: “While there are no certainties in the development, production, and timing of new vaccines, there is a possibility a COVID-19 vaccine could be available in the UK in the first part of 2021.

“It will only be rolled out once proven to be safe and effective through robust clinical trials and approved by medicines regulator the MHRA. “Once approved, the NHS stands ready to begin the vaccination programme to those most at risk, before being rolled out more widely.”