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The British will be the first people in the world to receive a coronavirus vaccine, but what exactly is the Pfizer jab, who will get it, and is it safe? Here we answer the big questions:
What we know
Who will get it first and why?
The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunization (JCVI) initially said that nursing home residents and staff should be first in line to receive vaccinations, followed by those over 80 and health workers in general.
However, the Pfizer / BioNtech jab must be shipped on dry ice at -103F (-75C) and only lasts for five days once stored in a refrigerator at typical temperatures of 35.6F – 46.4 (2-8C), so it does not it is practical to roll it up. in nursing homes.
While the government insists that nursing homes will be the first target, that is unlikely to happen in practice.
On December 2, Boris Johnson expanded more on how the vaccine would be implemented in nursing homes. He said, “Of course we want to get him to nursing homes as quickly as possible.” Although they are waiting to hear more, they are convinced that they will take it to “the most vulnerable”.
However, in response to criticism that the temperature of the vaccine would make it difficult to apply in nursing homes, Professor Van-Tam argued that it was “extremely unfair when you consider that a new virus emerged less than 12 months ago and now we have our first vaccine ”.
Instead, only NHS staff are expected to receive the vaccine initially, and nursing homes may need to wait until the Oxford or Modern vaccine is available before vaccinating residents and staff, as both can be stored. at normal refrigerator temperatures.
NHS staff were told to get the winter flu shot at the end of November because there must be at least a week between the two shots and NHS clinics have also been told to prepare to vaccinate their staff. .
Senior NHS officials claim that the jab can only be transported one more time after it reaches a central facility, and must be moved in batches of 975, meaning the vaccine will be wasted if shipped to smaller care homes. they have only a few dozen residents.
However, Pfizer has said that the jab can be shipped to nursing homes, as long as the vaccine travels no more than six hours after it comes out of cold storage and is then placed in a normal refrigerator between 2 ° C and 8 ° C. ° C. So expect discussions in the next few days about who gets the first doses.
However, the Scottish Health Secretary announced that the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine will be delivered to residents of nursing homes in Scotland within fifteen days.
Jeane Freeman said conversations on Thursday, December 3, had confirmed that the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine can be shipped unfrozen for up to 12 hours and can also be divided into smaller packages under “certain conditions.”
Ms. Freeman told MSPs that this makes the vaccine “more usable with minimal waste for nursing home residents and our senior citizens.”
She said: “We can indeed bring the vaccine to them, or close to them, and we will start that exercise from December 14.”
The National Care Forum said the only viable solution for nursing home residents is to get the strokes “over the threshold.”
A spokeswoman said: “It appears that the Scottish government has come to a different conclusion and indeed intends to honor the prioritization outlined by the JCVI and deliver the vaccine directly to Scottish nursing homes.”
“It is not entirely clear at this time why the English Government is not following this path.”
At the Wednesday night press conference, Sir Simon Stevens, executive director of the NHS, said that nursing home residents entering the hospital for outpatient appointments will still be able to access the jab.
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