Why ministers shouldn’t gamble on vaccine roll-out success by spring
The NHS is already stretched thin, 25 million are on the priority list and complex logistical challenges lie ahead
20 December 2020 • 7:04pm
With much of the country locked down hard and a “fast moving” new variant of the virus surging across South East England, the urgency to ensure that Britain’s 25 million most vulnerable people are vaccinated has never been greater.
“The new variant is out of control and we need to bring it under control,” the Health Secretary Matt Hancock told the BBC on Sunday. “We don t know how long these measures are going to be in place. It may be for some time until we can get the vaccine going.”
But American clinicians have also been told not to mix vials to maximise dosage.
British pharmacists also flagged fears over the potential sixth dose, citing concerns using it now will lead to problems if there are less doses in future batches of the Pfizer vaccine.
The Pfizer vaccine requires patients to receive two doses of the jab, with the second coming 21 days after the first, to ensure immunity is developed.
Pfizer vaccine news: NHS England clinicians were told they can make a sixth dose out of excess fluid in a vial of the Pfizer jab (Image: PA)
Pfizer vaccine news: A breakdown of vaccination centres in England (Image: EXPRESS)
Diluting the vials means there are seven and a half doses contained in each
But instructions say each only contains five to be given to waiting patients
NHS England has told clinicians that a sixth dose should be given when possible
But it is feared the seventh may be lost when some fluid gets stuck in syringe
Britain s regulator is understood to be investigating using the sixth dose
Are you one of the people administering the vaccine? Get in touch: luke.a.andrews@mailonline.co.uk
NHS scraps order to waste one in six vaccine doses
Clinicians were told during a webinar that they could use six, not five, doses in each vaccine vial after US regulators updated guidance
17 December 2020 • 9:00pm
Brian Horne receives the first of two injections with a dose of the Pfizer/BioNtech covid-19 vaccine from Helen Ellis at a GP led clinic in Buckinghamshire
Credit: Steve Parsons/PA Wire
GPs have been given new guidance that allows them to use Covid-19 vaccine doses that were previously being wasted, the Telegraph has learned.
Every vial of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine was expected to include five doses, allowing five people to get their first shot of the vaccine as the mass roll-out begins across the country. It takes two doses, delivered 21 days apart, to protect against the coronavirus.