GPs will begin booking appointments for the coronavirus vaccine in a few days across the country

GPs will start booking vaccination appointments in a few days and more than a million more doses will arrive in Britain next week.

Elderly and nursing home workers will receive letters to receive their response to the surgeries starting next week after hospitals began the historic vaccination program this week.

Details of the next stage of the phased rollout emerged when Professor Chris Whitty said that social distancing restrictions could begin to lift once 20 million vulnerable Britons have been vaccinated.

Comments made by England’s medical director in evidence to MPs offered hope for a return to normalcy before spring.

The NHS has been informed that 1.2 million or 1.6 million more doses will arrive next week, in addition to the 800,000 doses this week.

The rest of the four million starting doses for December will arrive the following week.

It occurred when “significant” reactions detected in two people who received the Pfizer injection led to the discontinuation of all vaccines yesterday (Wednesday) in people with a history of allergic reactions.

MPs asked Professor Whitty about the joint Coronavirus research: lessons learned when vaccines could allow social distancing restrictions to be lifted.

He said: “This disease is predictably much more dangerous than for older people and people with pre-existing health conditions.

“Once we’ve gone through that first list, which brings us to roughly 20 million people, there will be some broader options on where we go from there.

“Those will be important ethical and political choices, as well as clinical choices.

“Once you get to that stage, I think a conversation about what we want to do next becomes a really important conversation.”

Professor Whitty suggested that this point is unlikely to come until the busy January-February period for the NHS has passed.

He said: “I think very few people would recommend actually starting to remove things during a high risk period of the year, that winter will always be for respiratory infections.

“I want to be very clear, for the next three months we will not have enough protection.”

Assuming the long-awaited Oxford-AstraZeneca jab gets approval, at least 20 million Britons are likely to be vaccinated by the end of February.

Great Britain has bet heavily on this candidate and has ordered 100 million doses in advance.

Chief Scientific Adviser Sir Patrick Vallance appeared to tell MPs that whether younger age groups are ever offered a vaccine depends on their approval.

“We have a lot to do to implement vaccines and make sure the vulnerable are protected,” he said.

“We’re a long way from that, but no matter how you look at the rest of the population, that depends on things like whether the AstraZeneca vaccine is approved.”

Professor Whitty said “three out of four” vaccines should be available next year when “broader decisions” would need to be made about who gets them.

Ending social distancing after most of the 20 million most at risk are vaccinated would still leave many younger Britons contracting the virus and developing Long Covid.

Long-lasting side effects can include mental confusion, fatigue, muscle pain, shortness of breath, and lung damage.

Professor Whitty added: “It will still lead to a lot of people who could get sick from this and in some cases it could have serious results.”

Canada became the second country yesterday (Wednesday) to approve the Pfizer vaccine.

The day came when it became known that the NHS workers who received him on Tuesday had suffered “significant” allergic reactions.

NHS England said “they are both recovering well.”

Professor Whitty told MPs that he and the regulator’s chief, Dr. June Raine, had been discussing security issues “at 11:30 last night.”

The Medicines and Health Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) announced “cautionary advice” that anyone with a history of “significant” allergic reactions to drugs, foods or vaccines should not receive the injection.

Pfizer said the vaccine was “well tolerated” during the trials without “serious safety concerns.”

A spokeswoman said: “The MHRA has informed us of two reports of yellow cards that may be associated with an allergic reaction due to the administration of the Covid-19 BNT162b2 vaccine.

“As a precautionary measure, the MHRA has issued temporary guidance for the NHS while conducting an investigation to fully understand each case and its causes.”