Dear Colleague,
Covid-19 Vaccine Deployment Update
I am writing to you to update on the latest important developments about the UK’s COVID-19 vaccines deployment programme and to provide you with the latest list of local vaccine sites.
More than half a million people – including those aged 80 years old, care home residents and workers, and NHS workers who are at higher risk - have now been vaccinated. Patients aged 80 years old and above who are already attending hospital as an outpatient, and those who are being discharged home after a hospital stay, were among the first to receive the life-saving jab.
Last week, we reached another important milestone, as the first wave of over 200 GP-led local vaccination services began to deliver the jab, with more practices across the country joining in on a phased basis during December and in the coming months. Nurses, paramedics, pharmacists and other NHS staff are working alongside GPs to provide vaccinations to those identified as priority groups for the life-saving vaccine. As of 21 December, over 500 local vaccination services were operational, and we are adding more all the time. The full list of sites can be found at Annex A.
Importantly, care home residents in England have also started to receive their first vaccine after distributors finalised new, stringent processes to ensure safe delivery of the PfizerBioNTech vaccine.
Next year, as more vaccines come on stream, we will open vaccination centres in larger venues, like sports stadia and conference halls and that’s when most people can expect to get their jabs.
These last few weeks have seen us make important progress, and we are continuing to head in the right direction, but there is still a long way to go. It is important that we, and our constituents, all keep following the rules, especially during the Christmas period. I will provide further updates on our deployment of the vaccine as soon as possible in the new year.
Yours ever,
Matt Hancock