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The twenty-four-hour vaccination sites will be piloted in London before the end of January, the vaccine minister said.
Speaking to Sky News, Nadhim Zahawi said the NHS “will forensically target who we want to protect” to ensure that the most vulnerable people can be vaccinated first.
He said that as there is a “limited supply” of the vaccine, “it must reach the arms of the most vulnerable,” such as the elderly or the clinically extremely vulnerable.
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While the current vaccination schedules of 8 a.m. M. At 8 p. M. They work best for those over 80, some areas of the UK have managed to get the first blows to most of this age group.
In Darlington, all nursing home residents have already been vaccinated, the minister said.
The vaccine program has targeted people aged 80 and over, nursing home residents and NHS staff, but from today it will be extended to the following two priority groups: those aged 70 and over and those who they are listed as clinically extremely vulnerable.
The first groups will remain the priority, but vaccination sites with supply and capacity will also be able to vaccinate the next two groups.
Chancellor Dominic Raab promised Sunday that all adults will receive their first dose by September, and Mr Zahawi said this morning that it was “achievable.”
He added that the problem at the moment is that there is a limited supply of vaccines, but said “millions of doses” will be delivered in the coming months.
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The vaccine minister said teachers, police officers and commercial workers should top the next phase of the vaccine release list, after the four most vulnerable groups.
He said he was confident that the NHS can meet the mid-February deadline to vaccinate those first groups, adding that the government does not plan to extend the 12-week gap between the first and second doses of the vaccine.
Speaking of restrictions, he said they could begin to ease “two to three weeks” after the mid-February deadline.
Referring to reports of wasted vaccine doses, he said it would be “a terrible thing” to waste any vaccine and the government has told the NHS to “use every last drop.”
