Covid UK news - live: GPs told to prepare for vaccine roll out from 14 December as Russia starts jabs
GP surgeries across England have been told to get ready to start staffing Covid-19 vaccination centres by 14 December.
A letter sent out across the country’s primary care networks, NHS England and NHS Improvement described the upcoming coronavirus vaccination programme “one of the greatest challenges the NHS has ever faced”.
The number of vaccination sites in each clinical commissioning group (CCG) area will depend on the number of residents it has over the age of 80. CCGs have also been asked to consider inequalities and deprivation when picking sites for vaccination centres.
Meanwhile, Russia has begun administering its own Covid-19 vaccine, Sputnik V, to those most at risk of the virus in the capital Moscow.
The vaccine was registered in August, with developers saying it is 95 per cent effective and causes no major side effects – however, Sputnik V is still in phase three clinical trials and it is unclear how much of it Russia can manufacture.
