The first doses of the coronavirus vaccine will be administered in the UK on Tuesday, says the head of the NHS

The first doses of Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine will be administered on Tuesday, according to an NHS chief.

Chris Hopson, executive director of NHS Providers, said the immunization will be “a marathon, not a sprint,” telling BBC Breakfast: “We look forward to the race starting on Tuesday.”

Britain ordered 40 million doses of the vaccine, with two doses per person, meaning that 20 million people will receive the first round of injections.

Hopson said hospitals are calculating how many nursing home residents, nursing home staff and people over the age of 80 they can reach.

“Each of these groups has a different set of characteristics in terms of the logistical difficulty of vaccinating,” he said, noting that the vaccine must be transported at minus 70ºC.

“Think of a large pizza box, it’s the way we’re describing it, that it should be stored in a refrigerator at minus 70ºC.

“To be frank, the only way to really do it right now is to store them inside NHS hospitals.

“You can only move them four times and you have to make sure the two doses are given three weeks apart, so it’s quite complex.

“So what we’re going to do is, hospitals are talking to nursing home providers right now to say how we can get their staff into those hospitals so that we can inject them.”

NHS chief Sir Simon Stevens said that people over 80 and nursing home staff will be able to receive the first doses of the Pfizer vaccine in hospitals starting next week.

But initially they will only be offered in hospitals because the storage and transport of the doses is complicated.

They should be kept together in large batches of doses and should be stored at around minus 70 degrees.

Yesterday trucks were photographed transporting the vaccine from Pfizer’s laboratories in Belgium through the canal to the UK.

Once the vaccine arrives in the UK from Pfizer’s plant in Belgium, it is believed that the batches will be checked in a central warehouse to ensure quality.

Public Health England will process orders placed by the NHS for next day delivery to hospitals across the UK.

Meanwhile, the Army has been conducting “dry trials” of Covid Jab ahead of the country’s largest mass vaccination program.

It comes as the country struggles with logistical challenges managing it to those at the top of the priority list.

The new guideline produced by the joint vaccination and immunization committee reiterated that nursing home residents and staff and those over 80 should be the first groups to be vaccinated.

In response, the British Medical Association, which represents the majority of the country’s doctors, warned that pushing NHS staff to the tail could result in the deaths of more front-line doctors and nurses.

BMA President Dr. Chaand Nagpaul said healthcare staff understand the need to vaccinate nursing home residents and older patients before they do, but “will likely be frustrated by inconsistent messages from the government”.

He told The Guardian: “In the first wave, we saw too many healthcare and social care workers get incredibly ill with Covid, and many tragically died, and therefore those who work on the front lines must have the opportunity to protect themselves. early. “

Dr. Nagpual urged ministers to “do everything possible” to ensure that the supply of vaccines is increased.