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It’s hard to get into nursing homes with the vaccine because it must be kept around -103F (-75C) and it comes in large batches of 975 injections that, under quality control regulations, cannot be divided.
There was more confusion on Thursday night as the NHS said it could not ship the vaccine to nursing homes until the Medicines and Health Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) had authorized the batch splitting.
However, Scotland said it had solved the division problem and would start sending small batches to nursing homes from December 14.
The MHRA told The Telegraph that Scotland was correct and that approval was already in place to split the lots. However, NHS England insisted that they must await full approval from the MHRA.
Jeane Freeman, Scotland’s Health Secretary, told the Scottish Parliament: ‘Following detailed discussions led by our Chief Pharmaceutical Officer, we now have confirmation based on stability data that the Pfizer vaccine can be transported in a thawed state until for 12 hours and can be stored undiluted for up to five days.
“I am also pleased to confirm that, under certain conditions, we are able to pack it in smaller packages, making this vaccine more usable with minimal waste for nursing home residents and our senior citizens.
“So, in effect, we can bring the vaccine to them or get close to them. And we will begin that exercise from December 14. “
On Thursday night, nursing homes said they were still “in the dark” on whether staff and residents would be vaccinated and asked that staff be allowed to visit hospitals to get vaccinated.
John Palmer of Independent Age said: “We believe that nursing homes should be as safe as possible and that nursing home staff should be able to get vaccinated at a local hospital if that is practical and the only option currently available.
“If at this time it is impossible to vaccinate the elderly in nursing homes, we should vaccinate the staff, as they can be a vector of the virus.”
Care England also called for adult social care staff to be given priority even if residents had to wait.
NHS Providers (the membership organization for the NHS hospital, mental health, community and ambulance services) said the first hits would come on Tuesday and said they would work with nursing homes in the coming days to “maximize the number of nursing homes caregivers and workers who come to hospital centers for vaccination “.
Hospitals will also be asked to identify “as many patients over 80 as possible that they can vaccinate.”
Hopson said: “If doses of vaccine remain, hospitals will vaccinate staff based on defined / already reserved risk.”
NHS providers said supplies were only insured for December and January.
The vaccine must be given in two doses, so half of the supply must be kept to ensure that everyone can receive a second vaccine three weeks later, which means that only 400,000 people can be vaccinated in the initial phase.
However, the number of nursing home residents and staff exceeds that number.
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