Updated 26/02/2021 12:52 GMT
NHS Cohort Rules Are Risking Vaccine Wastage, Medics Fear
Those giving out the jab are calling on the NHS to let them vaccinate more widely as they run out of eligible patients.
The NHS could be forced to waste coronavirus vaccines if it does not offer leeway for medics to vaccinate beyond the designated at-risk groups.
The current cohort is group seven of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation’s priority list, which takes in 60- to 64-year-olds. Over-65s, health workers, the clinically vulnerable, and care home residents should already have been offered the jab.
But the success and speed of the vaccination programme has seen some of those delivering it left with empty clinics and spare doses after reaching the end of the list for their eligible cohorts, and now medics are asking for permission to continue vaccinating into the next group should that occur.