Government told pharmacies 'stand ready to do much more' in coronavirus vaccination rollout

Boots in Halifax was one of the first pharmacies to offer the vaccine today, after this newspaper and Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer called on the Government to utilise all 11,500 of the country’s chemists.

Natasha Eastwood, manager of the site, said she was “thrilled” the store had been selected.

“Pharmacies like ours are at the very heart of their local community, offering a trusted team and location that our patients are familiar and comfortable with to be vaccinated against Covid-19,” she said.

But pharmacy leaders have said they stand ready to do much more.

Seb James, managing director Boots UK and Republic of Ireland, said additional sites would be opening in its Huddersfield and Gloucester branches in the coming weeks, with more stores under consideration.

Mr James said: “Pharmacies are extremely well placed to support the roll-out of this vaccine quickly and safely, and we stand ready to do much more.”

He estimated that if 100 of the chain’s stores were to become vaccine sites, it could deliver half a million doses every week.

“We are discussing with the NHS how quickly they would like us to do that,” Mr James told the BBC.

Among those receiving the vaccine from pharmacists Rae Hynes and Bhavika Mistry in Halifax today were Patricia Main, 75, and 92-year-old Brenda Clegg.

In total three million coronavirus vaccines have now been administered, the Health Secretary has said.

Matt Hancock tweeted that he was “delighted” with the news: “We’re accelerating the Covid vaccine roll-out across the UK.”

As well as Halifax, pharmacists in Cullimore Chemist in Edgware, north London, Woodside Pharmacy in Telford, Appleton Village Pharmacy in Widnes, Andrews Pharmacy in Macclesfield, and Superdrug in Guildford delivered their first doses today, with appointments available at 70 more next week and 200 by the end of the month.

The six sites across the country were selected because they have enough room for patients to receive the vaccine and be observed for 15 minutes afterwards to ensure they suffer no ill-effects.

After receiving the first dose, it still takes between one and two weeks for the body to build up immunity so patients need to be able to observe social distancing at vaccination centres.

But Dr Leyla Hannbeck, Chief Executive of the Association of Independent Multiple Pharmacies dismissed concerns raised by the Prime Minister that rolling the programme out to more sites would result in wastage.

The Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine, which would be used in pharmacies due to the fact that it can be stored at fridge temperature, is delivered in packs of 10 vials.

Each vial contains eight to ten doses, and once opened, each must be used within six hours or it can no longer be administered.

But Dr Hannbeck said pharmacists’ experience with the flu vaccine meant they were already working in a way to ensure minimal wastage.

She said: “We’ve demonstrated that we can deliver...in the case of flu vaccines, there are all sorts of problems each year, stock problems, shortages.

“We go through all sorts of hoops to get things done; it’s not always easy, and challenges exist - but we overcome them every year.”

On a visit to a vaccination centre in Stevenage today, Labour leader Sir Keir said: “Now, we all need to get behind the effort to get Britain vaccinated.

“This is a fantastic mass centre, what we need is pharmacists across the country now coming on stream, we need 24/7, vaccination, and those pharmacies across the United Kingdom, they're up for this, they say we can do this, please give it to us.

“Obviously, some of that has started, 200 or so, in the last day or so. that's good, we need to really ramp it up.”