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England’s GPs are offered £ 10 for each nursing home resident who vaccinates against COVID-19 at the end of January, the NHS said.
The measure is part of an “accelerating push to protect the most vulnerable” after regulators approved the use of Oxford / AstraZeneca jab in the UK on Wednesday.
On December 2, the country became the first in the world to give the Pfizer / BioNTech inoculation of green light.
Margaret Keenan was the first person in the world to receive the Pfizer jab outside of a trial
Margaret KeenanThe 91-year-old made history by becoming the world’s first patient to receive it outside of a clinical trial on Dec. 8, and the grandmother received her second dose on Dec. 29.
The latest figures show that 786,000 people received a puncture between December 8 and 27.
About two-thirds, about 524,439, were delivered to people 80 and older, which is equivalent to one in five people in that age group.
In a statement on its website, the NHS It said its vaccination program, “the largest in the history of the health service,” will expand after the Oxford / AstraZeneca vaccine was approved, and that front-line staff will now also be prioritized.
As additional supplies become available, doctors, nurses, and other medical workers will also receive the injection.
Dr Nikki Kanani, NHS Primary Care Physician and Chief Medical Officer, said: “Three-quarters of a million people have received the Pfizer vaccine thanks to the tireless efforts of NHS staff who have spent time with their families during the Christmas to deliver vaccines, while treating a record number of seriously ill COVID-19 patients.
“As we head to the New Year With a second vaccine that is also more versatile, we will be able to expand the program and ensure that most nursing home residents are protected within the next four weeks or so.
“It is also great news that we can begin to vaccinate NHS personnel working on the front lines to protect them against the coronavirus.”
Because the Pfizer vaccine must be kept at -70 degrees (-94F) until ready to use, and it can only be moved a limited number of times, it makes it difficult to access nursing homes.
But the Oxford / AstraZeneca puncture can be kept at refrigerator temperature and more easily transported.
A first dose provides about 70% effectiveness starting three weeks after immunization, according to the Medicines and Health Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) and the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunization (JCVI).
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The data showed that the vaccine was up to 80% effective when the second dose was given three months after the first.
Most nursing home residents are expected to have the jab by the end of January, and everyone who has not had it is expected to have an appointment by then.
The government has said that the second dose of Oxford will be administered later than originally planned to provide as many people as possible with coverage of the first vaccine.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock said allowing a second dose up to 12 weeks later was “important because it means we can give the first dose to more people more quickly and they can get the protection that the first dose provides.”
