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Tens of thousands of people could be injected with the coronavirus vaccine starting next month, leaked documents suggest.
Under the plan, five mass vaccination centers are planned to be in action by Christmas, according to The Sun. Hundreds of NHS staff, including nurses-in-training and paramedics, are expected to be called up to lead centers in London, Leeds and Hull.
One source said: “The earliest we are likely to get the first test results is a month from now, which means the best-case scenario for a possible deployment is just before Christmas.
“But planning is well advanced, so there will be no delays in vaccination once we have a working vaccine.”
The most vulnerable will get the vaccine first, with a fleet of mobile units that will be used to reach people in nursing homes and isolated communities.
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GPs and pharmacists will also be asked to assist in the massive vaccination effort.
Documents have marked the end of this month as the launch date for the vaccine, but this will not be confirmed until approved by UK regulators and the European Medicines Agency.
The proposals also suggested that other healthcare workers, including veterinarians, dietitians and podiatrists, can also help manage doses if regulations are relaxed to allow it.
Residents and nursing home staff are first on the list to receive the vaccine as soon as it is ready.
Those over 80 and NHS staff are next, followed by those over 65, the youngest adults most at risk, and people over 50.
Some nursing home administrators were asked for a list of eligible frontline staff last month.
It comes after the secretary of health confirmed that the British military will be involved in the distribution of the vaccine.
Speaking at the Conservative Party conference on Sunday, Matt Hancock said that a “combination of the NHS and the military” is already working to “make the deployment happen.”
He said the doses would be distributed based on a prioritization list, noting that it was important “to get the vaccine to the people who are most likely to be severely affected by coronavirus first.”
He called the vaccine a ‘great hope’ and told the conference: ‘The Prime Minister said this morning that there will be some difficult months ahead, but we are working as hard as we can to get a vaccine as quickly and safely as possible.
The plans are underway. A combination of the NHS and the military is involved in the logistics for this to happen, making the deployment happen.
“Because it’s not just about developing the vaccine and then testing the vaccine, which is what is happening now, it’s about implementing the vaccine according to priority, according to clinical need.
“We have established the order in which people will receive it, we have established it in a draft pending the final clinical data.”
The main contender in the race to find a vaccine is the University of Oxford, where trials have been conducted since April.
The government has already ordered around 100 million doses of the vaccine, although it has not yet been approved.
The jabs developed by the University of Oxford require two inoculations, 28 days apart, adding another logistical challenge to the mass launch.
Giving two doses of a vaccine to 53 million adults in a six-month period would involve 600,000 injections a day.
The head of the country’s vaccine task force, Kate Bingham, said earlier this week that less than half of Britain will be vaccinated against Covid-19.
He stated that ministers expect around 30 million people to receive the potentially saving blow, out of a total of almost 67 million in the population.
Ms Bingham said, “We just have to vaccinate everyone at risk,” stating that no one under 18 will get a dose.
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