The Covid ID: First look at new NHS vaccination identity card that patients can use to prove they’ve had the jab
- ID card will be handed out to every Brit after they receive their Covid-19 vaccine
- The card will start to be handed out when vaccine roll-out begins on tomorrow
- The Pfizer vaccine is thought to offer up to six months of immunity to Covid-19
Patients are set to be handed a Covid-19 vaccination ID card proving they have received the jab.
Up to four million doses of the Pfizer BioNTech coronavirus vaccine are expected to be adminsitered by the end of December, after pharmacy technicians in Croydon took the first shipment of the jab over the weekend.
A mass vaccination scheme treating over 80s, care home workers and high-risk NHS staff will begin tomorrow.
Michael Gove has denied the Government has any plans to create a ‘vaccine passport,’ but the NHS has created a card for people to keep a record if they have received the jab, warning them in bold: ‘Make sure you keep this record card in your purse or wallet’
Images have now been shared of a card patients will receive to prove they have received the jab – which has proved to be effective in 95 per cent of cases and offers up to six months of immunity.
The card contains space to detail the name of the vaccine, its batch number and the date that it was injected.
There is space for a second date, as Pfizer’s jab requires two vaccinations.
It’s not yet clear if the cards are mandatory or part of an immunity passport, which has been toted as a solution to help support the hospitality industry as it reopens.
Michael Gove dismissed the notion, telling Sky News: ‘That’s not being planned. I certainly am not planning to introduce any vaccine passports and I don’t know anyone else in government who is.’
Up to 4million doses of the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine are expected to be administered by the end of December
High-risk NHS staff, along with over 80s and care home workers, will be the first to receive the jab when the vaccine programme begins tomorrow
UK Health minister Nadhim Zahawi said its restaurants and bars could ask for some proof of vaccination.
He told the BBC: ‘I think you’ll probably find that restaurants and bars and cinemas and other venues, sports venues, will probably also use that system.’
Fears that people would miss out in the first wave of immunisation because of short supplies were raised last week after the Government announced just 800,000 doses of the Pfizer jab had been sent to the UK.
But NHS bosses looked to quash concerns yesterday, with Saffron Cordery, the deputy CEO of NHS Providers, assuring the public that the country was expecting ‘up to four million doses’ by the end of December.
She told Sky’s Sophy Ridge on Sunday: ‘We know that the first batch of 800,000 is making its way to the country now. We know that many of the 50 hospital hubs up and down the country have already received their allocation and more is expected today, so we know that that consignment is here.
‘We are expecting in the low millions, so up to four million doses, to be with us by the end of December. So that consignment and that distribution is really well on the way now.’
Official figures released yesterday also revealed a further 231 people have died after testing positive for Covid-19 – a 7.4 per cent rise on the 215 deaths reported last Sunday
Britain recorded a further 17,272 coronavirus yesterday – marking a 42 per cent rise on last Sunday’s total
A graphic shows where the 50 NHS hubs, special jab centres and GP clinics offering the vaccine next week are located
Masked pharmacy technicians Croydon University Hospital in Croydon, London took delivery of the first shipment of the breakthrough Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 jab over the weekend.
They had to overcome a complex and difficult logistical challenge when receiving the vaccine, which needs to be stored at –70C before being thawed out and can only be moved four times before being used.
Croydon health officials praised the delivery of the long-anticipated vaccine, which is typically delivered by an injection in the shoulder, calling it ‘a pivotal moment for the country’.