The British government wants to be ready to vaccinate from 1 December

Will the UK be more ready for the vaccine operation of the century than when the coronavirus pandemic arrived in the spring? The Johnson government assures us that it does. Starting Tuesday, November 10, his health minister, Matt Hancock, has outlined a plan to vaccinate millions of Britons – the oldest and most vulnerable – as early as December if the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is ready and given the green light from the National Agency for the Regulation of Medicines and Health Products. The NHS (national health service, public hospital) will have to be ready “At any time from 1^is December “ insisted in the House of Commons.

Downing Street says it has secured the purchase of 40 million doses of the vaccine, which are expected to be shipped from the Puurs plant in Belgium (including 10 million by the end of this year). Enough to vaccinate around 20 million Brits, at the rate of two injections per person. The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunization (a committee of independent experts who advise the government on vaccines) is waiting to learn more about the effectiveness of the Pfizer vaccine by age group to definitively stop the list of priority citizens. Plans are already being made to vaccinate nursing home residents, the over 80s, health workers (in hospitals and nursing homes) and the 2.2 million people at risk (diabetics) first. , cancerous, etc.), which the government has advised to isolate itself since the beginning of the epidemic.

Open 7 days a week

Unlike the epidemic tracing operation (“Test & Trace”), piloted centrally by private operators (and which turned out to be a bitter failure), the authorities have decided this time to entrust the vaccination campaign for doctors and city hospitals. The army should help deliver the doses (logistics, as elsewhere, promises to be very complex, the vaccine must be kept at – 70 ° C).

They will likely be stored in hospitals and then sent to some 1,300 “primary care networks”, groupings of medical centers set up two years ago (due to economies of scale). These centers will have to identify and set up vaccination centers, open seven days a week from 8:00 to 20:00. Doctors will have to maintain a pace of 975 injections per week, the health ministry said.

You have 44.82% of this article to read. The rest is for subscribers only.