Covid UK: Boots and Superdrug won’t start vaccinations til THURSDAY

Britain’s High Street pharmacies won’t start dishing out coronavirus vaccines until Thursday, it was revealed today amid mounting pressure on Boris Johnson to launch round-the-clock inoculations.

Superdrug and Boots will only have one site ready to dish out vaccines when the roll-out is finally expanded later this week, with dozens more sites on standby to ramp up the lockdown-ending scheme in the coming weeks. 

Both chains — which have yet to receive any coronavirus vaccines — have dozens of stores that already offer the winter flu jab. 

No10 last week said jabs would be deployed from hundreds of independent chemists in a bid to deliver on Boris Johnson’s lofty promise of vaccinating 13million people and ending lockdown by mid-February.  

But amid reports of manufacturing and supply issues, small chains claim to have still not been contacted about getting involved, even though they have begged Downing Street to let them chip in, claiming they have the expertise and local knowledge to be able to dish out ‘millions’ of jabs. 

It comes as ministers last night pledged to offer everyone over 50 a Covid jab the end of April. Health Secretary Matt Hancock said mass vaccination was the only way out of the endless cycle of lockdowns.

The Government is also under growing pressure to launch a 24/7 operation, with the Government now in a ‘race against time’ to get jabs in arms.

The ambitious timetable means vaccinating 32million Britons – half the population – within 16 weeks. Two million jabs will have to be given every week in the ‘greatest logistical challenge of our time’. 

Only 2.2million people have already been inoculated since the vaccine drive began last month – but the rate increased to almost 200,000 a day last week, figures suggest. 

No10’s 47-page masterplan said the nation’s remaining adults – another 21million – would be inoculated by autumn. 

The second phase is likely to prioritise teachers, police, shop staff and others whose jobs involve dealing with the public.

More than 80,000 medics and volunteers will operate from 2,700 centres, including 50 super-hubs that will eventually dish out tens of thousands of doses each day. 

Labour has demanded the Government ‘sorts out’ a round-the-clock operation, while Tory MPs have urged ministers to ‘look carefully’ at whether the hours can be extended.

No10 yesterday claimed there is no ‘clamour’ for appointments after 8pm – despite the tactic being one of the secrets to Israel’s successful rollout, which has earned international praise. 

Superdrug last week revealed that it had five sites ready to dish out the vaccine, with a spokesperson saying stores in Manchester, Leeds, Bristol, Guildford and Basingstoke were just waiting on deliveries of the jab.

But the chain today revealed that only the Guildford store will be ready to go from Thursday, as long as supplies of the vaccine are delivered as scheduled tomorrow.

Each Superdrug site will be able to offer around 150 vaccines a day between 8am and 8pm. Patients will be referred to the clinics through the normal NHS booking service and vaccines will be carried out by trained in-store pharmacists and nurses.

Sources involved in the pharmacy vaccine roll-out also say that Boots will open one store in Halifax launching on Thursday. A handful of independent chains are also set to be involved in the initial roll-out.

No10 has promised to start dispensing the vaccines from 2,700 centres dotted across the country, including mass centres, hospitals and GP practices to achieve its 13million vaccination promise next month.

But independent pharmacies are still crying out to be involved with the rollout, claiming they have the expertise to be able to significantly boost the scheme but are being left in the lurch.

Leyla Hannbeck, the chief executive of the Association of Independent Multiple Pharmacies, told MailOnline today that vaccine minister Nadeem Zahawi had still not approached pharmacists to help with the immunisation push.

She added: ‘He has not had a discussion with us despite our members highlighting that they are ready to get involved vaccinating big numbers of people at the same time as the current designated sites.

‘Following the media attention NHSE are now saying that they want to involve community pharmacies down the line once supply becomes steady and once the national booking system goes online- our understanding is that at the moment the booking system is only available to designated sites.

‘We are willing to work with NHSE to overcome any challenges ASAP so pharmacy can get involved.’ 

Andrew Lane, chair of the National Pharmacy Association, made similar comments last week to MailOnline.

‘Pharmacies can play a significant role in the Covid vaccination programme, and we’re well equipped to get started immediately,’ he said at the time.

‘We have been on the health service frontline throughout the pandemic and now we want to join this latest, decisive, battle against this deadly virus.

‘The vast majority of pharmacies provide flu vaccinations, so there are thousands of potential local pharmacy sites for vaccinating against COVID, capable of protecting millions of people within weeks. We are bound to ask, what on earth is stopping the NHS from mobilising more pharmacies for this vital task?

‘Pharmacists want to help, they are already trained for giving vaccines, and people are crying out for convenient local access to the vaccine. It’s surely a no-brainer that pharmacies should be supported to take part in this urgent national effort.

‘The process for signing-up to give vaccines needs to be as agile as the workforce and should allow pharmacy teams to come on board rapidly. Approval of the Oxford-Astra Zeneca vaccine, for which storage is easier, means that many more pharmacies are now capable of offering vaccinations.’

Meanwhile, concerns are mounting that red tape is still strangling Britain’s coronavirus vaccine scale up, with retired medics still required to fill out 13 forms before being allowed to administer jabs.

Despite the sluggish immunisation drive crying out for help to get it up to speed, former NHS staff are still having to provide proof of ‘data security’ training to be able to join the national effort.

Liam Fox, the former Tory Cabinet minister and a doctor who has been trying to volunteer to help, said the only qualifications medical professionals should need are ‘to understand the new vaccines and the risks relating to adverse reactions’. 

Originally, former health workers were being asked to provide 21 pieces of evidence before being allowed to take part, which included evidence of anti-terrorism training, fire safety and conflict resolution.

But the Government came under huge pressure to get rid of the excessive bureaucracy, with Boris Johnson promising last Wednesday ‘all such obstacles and all such pointless pettifoggery has been removed’. 

But retired doctors said today there was still ‘too much time-wasting bureaucracy’ that could put off volunteers from joining and hamper the country’s ambitious plans to jab 13million people by mid-February.

Some of the 13 requirements are essential, including evidence of handling and administering the Oxford University/AstraZeneca or Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines, a criminal background check and proof of employment. 

But other modules seem less critical, such as ‘safeguarding adults’ – which is training to recognise and report potential indicators of abuse, harm and neglect – and ‘data security’.

Retired GP Claire Barker said retired doctors were still likely to be put off by the requirements. She told The Telegraph: ‘There is a balance to be struck between making sure that people are competent and over egging it by asking them to do things that they don’t really, really need. At the moment I still think the requirements would be enough to put a lot of people off.’