Plan revealed to give coronavirus vaccine to tens of millions of people by spring

The UK Covid-19 Vaccines Delivery Plan sets out how the Government will work with the NHS, devolved administrations, councils and the armed forces to deliver the largest vaccination programme in British history.

By the end of January, everyone in England will be within 10 miles of a vaccination site or, for a small number of highly rural areas, the vaccine will be brought to them via mobile teams.

There will be capacity to deliver at least two million vaccinations in England per week and all residents and staff in more than 10,000 care homes across the country will be offered a vaccine by the end of the month.

This will be made possible by the rapid expansion of the programme, including: 206 active hospital sites; 50 vaccination centres; and around 1,200 local vaccination sites, including primary care networks, community pharmacy sites and mobile teams.

The expansion of the programme will mean all adults will be offered a vaccine by the autumn.

The Government and the NHS have mobilised a workforce of more than 80,000 health professionals to help in the delivery of the programme, with over 200,000 members of the public expressing their interest in helping with the non-clinical elements, such as administrative support, logistics, stewards and first aiders.

Health and Social Care Secretary Matt Hancock said: “It’s taken a tremendous amount of hard work and dedication to make such an incredible start to this ambitious deployment programme. Our vaccine deployment plan sets out exactly how we will harness these efforts to expand the programme quickly and safely.

“Our UK Covid-19 vaccines delivery plan maps our route back to normality, but it does not mean we can be complacent and it is mission critical that everybody abides by the restrictions in the coming weeks.

“The next few months will present a significant opportunity to turn the tide of battle against Covid – I am looking forward to watching these plans bring more reassurance and hope back to people’s lives after a difficult year.”

The plan reiterates the commitment to offer the first vaccine dose to all those in the top four priority groups by February 15. With these groups accounting for 88 per cent of Covid-19 fatalities, the move will prevent thousands of deaths once their immunity develops in 14 days.

This would account for almost half of the priority groups in phase one, with all nine high-risk groups being vaccinated by spring.

Phase two will look at the best tactics for achieving protection for the whole population and may include vaccination of those at high risk of catching Covid-19 or delivering key public services.

Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng said: "This historic vaccination programme is a truly national effort and shows the whole of the UK coming together to quickly and effectively protect the British public against this terrible virus.

“It’s fantastic to see so many people stepping forward to help out and I encourage businesses, wherever possible, to allow their staff time and scope to volunteer. This is the greatest logistical challenge of our time and we must all play our part.”

Thanks for reading. If you value what we do and are able to support us, a digital subscription is just £1 for your first month. Try us today by clicking here