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Batches of the coronavirus vaccine have been photographed arriving at a hospital in South London ahead of the rollout of treatment across the UK this week.
Staff have been unloading doses of the Pfizer / BioNTech jab from boxes at Croydon University Hospital before placing them in freezers on site.
the COVID-19 The vaccine should be stored at temperatures of -70 ° C to -80 ° C.
The COVID-19 vaccine has arrived at Croydon University Hospital
Louise Coughlan, Croydon Health Services Deputy Chief Pharmacist, said: “This is so exciting, this is a momentous occasion.
“The NHS has apparently been planning to offer the largest vaccination program in our history, so it’s really exciting.”
The vaccines will be administered in dozens of hospitals starting Tuesday, but people over 80 have been told not to worry if they are not called for the vaccine this month.
Chris Hopson, executive director of NHS Providers, said that people should “hang up the fire” and be sure they have not been forgotten if they have not received a letter or phone call about the jab.
The vaccine is stored in freezers at the hospital.
Mr. Hopson told the Palestinian Authority news agency: “I don’t think people should expect anything in the next few days because the reality is, as I said, that for the vast, vast majority of people this will be done in January”. February March.
“And the one thing we don’t want people to feel anxious or worried about is ‘Where’s my letter?’ in December.”
He added: “People really shouldn’t worry if they are over 80 and haven’t received a letter.
“I’m sure there will be communications over the next several weeks that will tell people how fast we are getting over 80, and there will be a lot of communications to say, at the right point, if you haven’t had a letter then you should speak to your doctor of head, but we are to many weeks of that “.
The UK has ordered 40 million doses of the Pfizer / BioNTech jab, enough to vaccinate 20 million people as people need two doses.
There are 800,000 doses in the first tranche, which means that 400,000 people will be vaccinated initially.
There are 50 centers in the first wave of the vaccination program in England, and more hospitals will start vaccinating in the coming weeks and months as the program intensifies.
The medical director of the NHS in England has said that the start of the vaccination program this week “feels like the beginning of the end”.
Professor Stephen Powis said, “As a doctor, this is a really exciting time.”
But he warned that what he describes as the “largest-scale vaccination campaign in our country’s history” will be a “marathon, not a sprint.”
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‘This feels like the beginning of the end’
He said: “It will take us many months to vaccinate everyone who needs vaccination.”
Professor Powis also admitted that there were “enormous complexities” but said that the NHS had a “strong track record of running large-scale vaccination programs.”
He continued: “The working staff will once again rise to the challenge of protecting the most vulnerable people from this terrible disease.”
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Professor Powis said additional staff were being recruited to help with the immunization program, and urged people to continue seeking treatment for thecoronavirus health problems.
NHS Providers, the association of foundations and trusts, has told Sky News that the UK could have up to four million doses of vaccines by the end of the year.
It has been said that GP surgeries in England begin staffing COVID-19 vaccination centers before December 14.
