Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine hits GPs from today

The vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech has been approved for use in inoculation clinics run by GPs with rollout expected early this week.

GPs at more than 100 locations are being given doses on Monday morning and some will be able to start immunisation within a few hours.

Care home residents in Scotland will begin receiving vaccinations for the first time at some point during the day and NHS England and NHS Improvement said a majority of GPs will begin giving doses to their communities from Tuesday onwards.

Frontline workers such as NHS staff and the most vulnerable, such as those living in care homes and with serious diseases, are the first to be immunised.

Read more: NHS to prepare dozens of vaccination centres for mass inoculation

The government have warned that complications arising from Christmas socialising may disrupt rollout of the vaccine and health experts have predicted a potential third wave of the pandemic following the festive period.

The vaccination centres will operate from clinics or from specialised hubs set up by the NHS.

The Pfizer vaccine is the first to gain approval in the UK, but officials have hinted the jab created by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford should expect rollout by the end of the year.

Dr Nikita Kanani, director of primary care at NHS England, urged people waiting for coronavirus vaccinations to be patient.

On the BBC's Today programme, she said: "There's a huge range of things that general practices are already doing so if we can ask for people to just wait a moment and wait to be contacted that would be very appreciated."

Prof Martin Marshall, chairman of the Royal College of GPs, said: "There are several logistical challenges to the rollout but GPs have an excellent track record of delivering mass vaccination programmes.

"We won't be vaccinating everyone all at once - it will be a relatively small number at first - but as long as there is supply, GPs and our teams at selected sites will start vaccinating people this week, starting with our most vulnerable patients."

The Pfizer vaccine is still awaiting approval in the US and EU. Regulatory meetings in the EU have been delayed until December 29 pending further investigations into its safety and efficacy.

Read more: EU vaccination scheme unlikely to commence until 2021

It is likely rollout of the first vaccines across the bloc will commence in late January.

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