England’s Covid jab blitz begins at mass vaccination superhubs

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Britain’s vaccines minister today blamed a shortage of the Covid-19-killing medicine for not having jabs 24/7 across the country as England’s new mass vaccination hubs opened this morning offering an injection every 45 seconds.

Nadhim Zahawi also admitted that said that most people currently had ‘about a 45-minute drive’ to the seven NHS  sites opening their doors this morning, most of whom are over 80, amid claims the vulnerable face ‘gruelling’ trips to get their jab because not enough GP surgeries are taking part.

Mr Zahawi has said the vaccine rollout could take place 24 hours a day ‘if we need to’, but only when there are high enough levels of jabs vaccine. He also suggested those mainly elderly Britons needing vaccinations now are unlikely to want an appointment in the middle of the night, meaning the current opening hours will continue to be 8am to 8pm.

Pressed on whether it could be administered night and day when there is sufficient vaccine, he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: ‘If we need to go to 24-hour work we will absolutely go 24 hours a day to make sure we vaccinate as quickly as we can’. 

Fears remain that the government may be overpromising how much can realistically be delivered – or not pushing hard enough to vaccinate the entire population and release the UK from lockdown.

Labour Leader Sir Keir Starmer said today that Boris Johnson’s ‘first priority’ must be to accelerate the scheme to ’round the clock’, adding: ‘This is now the only way out of the darkness’. Sir Keir also believes the Government’s 2million jabs per week should be doubled to 4million by the end of February.

It came as Chief Medical Officer Professor Chris Whitty said the NHS is in the ‘most dangerous situation anyone can remember’ but the new vaccines mean the UK can be back to normal in ‘months not years’. 

The mass vaccinations centres – which are also open to health and care staff – offer an alternative to receiving the jab at GP surgeries and in hospitals with Moira Edwards, 88, among the first to get her jab at the Surrey hub today.

They cover all seven NHS regions in England, including the Centre for Life in Newcastle upon Tyne. The others are the Nightingale Hospital at the Excel Centre in London, Ashton Gate stadium in Bristol, Epsom Racecourse in Surrey, Millennium Point in Birmingham, Robertson House in Stevenage and the Etihad Tennis Centre in Manchester.

Each can inoculate a patient every four minutes which means someone is given a jab around evert 45 seconds across all seven of the hubs – with each patient in and out in four minute. The hubs are coming online as Boris Johnson discusses plans for a stricter lockdown including exercise limits, compulsory masks outside, nurseries shut and no support bubbles amid fears the current lockdown isn’t curbing the spread of Covid. 

Today there are concerns that the centres are forcing the NHS to throw their net too wide, with an estimated 130,000 people living more than 45 minutes away from the sites invited to have their vaccinations in the coming weeks. Many are in the most vulnerable age categories with underlying health conditions and there are concerns the journey is too far for them.

Mr Zahawi admitted some of the most vulnerable do have to travel 45 minutes for a jab, but added that he wanted to reach the point where people could simply walk into their community pharmacy or local GP to receive a vaccine.  

The opening of the vaccines centres came as:  

• CMO Chris Whitty says that despite mass vaccinations there will still be months of restrictions; 
• Boris Johnson discusses plans for stricter lockdown ‘including exercise limits, compulsory masks outside, nurseries shut and NO support bubbles;
• Supermarkets are told to bring back limit on number of customers amid new fears over lockdown rule-breaking;
• Video of woman being ‘arrested for sitting on a bench’ was ‘STAGE-MANAGED by anti-lockdown protesters’, Dorset Police claim, as senior officers hint at even tougher enforcement; 

Mr Zahawi has suggested that police officers, teachers and other critical workers will be in the ‘highest category of phase two’ of the vaccine rollout.

He told Sky News that currently the programme is prioritising those most vulnerable at death from coronavirus.

He added: ‘Some police officers, of course, and teachers will actually get the vaccine (in phase one) because they are in those categories, but we will very quickly move onto those other critical workers in the economy and, of course, those who are doing an incredible job, like our policemen and women in protecting us and enforcing the rules at the moment, will also be in that highest category of phase two.’ 

Mr Zahawi was unable to assure that the current restrictions are sufficient and raised concerns of people not complying with the rules.

‘We don’t want to use tougher measures, the lockdown is tough, schools are shut, but it is important to remember this virus loves social interactions,’ he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

‘We’re reviewing all the restrictions, but these are pretty tough at the moment. I am worried about supermarkets and people actually wearing masks and following the one-way system and making sure when it’s at capacity they wait outside the supermarket.

‘I’m worried about some of the pictures I’ve seen of social interactions in parks, if you have to exercise you can go out for exercise only.’

Mr Zahawi has also urged the public to follow the rules and wear masks and observe one-way systems in supermarkets.

He told Sky News: ‘We are concerned that, for example, in supermarkets, we need to make sure people actually wear masks and follow the one-way system rule, and when they are at capacity to operate safely for people to wait outside supermarkets.

‘We don’t want to go any tougher because this is a pretty tough lockdown, but what we need is people to behave as if they’ve got the virus so we can bring this virus under control whilst we vaccinate.’

said there had so far been ‘higher compliance’ with coronavirus restrictions than in November but urged people to resist social interaction.

‘Where I am concerned – we don’t want to introduce tougher measures, we’ve already locked down pretty severely,’ he told Times Radio.

‘The one message is that this virus loves social interaction. We are all very sociable animals … (but) we’ve got to continue to be vigilant.

‘It is those social interactions that are helping the virus that we need to avoid.

‘These rules are not boundaries to be pushed at, they are rules to help all of us bring down the death rate, bring down the pressure on the NHS and help us, help me, keep vaccinating so that we can actually get ahead of the virus.’

Chris Whitty today warned the next few weeks are set to be the worst yet for the NHS as the government begs people not to ‘push the boundaries’ of the lockdown – and threatens to make it even tougher.

The chief medical officer took to the airwaves to highlight the scale of the threat, saying that there are 30,000 people in hospital compared to the peak of 18,000 in April.

Amid a crackdown on stopping to chat in the street and in shops, Prof Whitty urged people to remember that ‘every unnecessary contact’ was an opportunity for the virus to spread.

He insisted that although the the NHS was in the ‘most dangerous situation anyone can remember’ vaccines mean the UK can be back to normal in ‘months not years’ – but he cautioned that the situation is a long way from that currently.

The intervention came amid fears that the number of daily deaths is on track to rise to 2,000, with Boris Johnson looking at tightening the national lockdown rules even more dramatically if cases keep surging.

A Whitehall source told MailOnline ministers have discussed going as far as saying people can only leave the house once a week – although No10 today denied this was on the cards. Other ideas include compulsory mask-wearing outdoors and a ban on extended bubbles.

Vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi this morning suggested that shops are in the firing line, stressing the need for everyone to wear masks and follow one-way systems in supermarkets. He appealed for people not to stop and chat to friends they bump into while outside their homes.

Limits on individuals from different households exercising together also look to be in the pipeline as the government scrambles for ways of lowering transmission.

Prof Whitty told BBC Breakfast: ‘We have a very significant problem. The next few weeks are going to be the worst weeks of this pandemic in terms of the numbers into the NHS.’

He added: ‘This is everybody’s problem.’

Prof Whitty said: ‘This is the most dangerous time we have really had in terms of numbers into the NHS at this particular time.’

A 99-year-old RAF veteran who feared he’d slipped off the Covid jab waiting list has thanked MailOnline after receiving a vaccination appointment within 24 hours of our story highlighting his plight.

Widower and great-grandfather-of-four Arthur Clark said: ‘I can’t thank you enough for your intervention. It obviously did the trick.’

Arthur and his partner Joyce Steward, 87, spent hours phoning their GP in Beckenham, south-east London as well as a local vaccination hub after the national roll-out began last month, but like thousands of others, were simply told to wait, despite Arthur’s extreme age.

But after MailOnline revealed his situation on Friday the wheels began to move surprisingly quickly.

‘We got a call on Saturday evening,’ he said. ‘They asked me to get down to the Beacon Health Centre on Sunday morning and asked us to wrap up well, in case we had to queue outside.

‘But we didn’t have to wait at all – the jab was painless and we spent more time waiting afterwards than we did beforehand.’

Joyce, 87, was pleased to find she was also on the list for a jab, so the couple were both vaccinated together.

‘We’ve no doubt it was the story which got things moving,’ she said. ‘We were really surprised that people of Arthur’s age weren’t at the top of the list, but it’s good to see that the programme seems to be moving more quickly for everyone now.’

Mr Clark, a former RAF airman, witnessed the liberation of Burma in 1945, meeting Lord Louis Mountbatten, then became a successful bricklaying contractor after the war.

The first few hundred people have been vaccinated at a mass centre on tennis court at Manchester’s City Etihad stadium.

Up to a dozen were given their Covid-19 vaccines in pods at a time at the Manchester Football and Tennis Centre.

The first person left just before 9.15am as a steady stream of people were driven into City’s Blue car park.

They then had a short walk to the white entrance of the tennis centre which has 24 indoor courts.

The first person vaccinated, a woman in her 80s who did not wish to be named, said: ‘It feels wonderful to be the first person.

‘I wasn’t nervous just excited to get it done. The staff were lovely.’

Patricia Stabler, 81, of Rossendale, Lancs was next out.

The grandmother said: ‘It all seems to run very smoothly.

‘The staff were great and put you at ease. But I wasn’t nervous as I wanted to get it done.

‘I walked into a pod to be injected and rolled up my sleeve.

‘Before that you had to register but I only had to wait five minutes.’

Jean Rowland, 86, of Astley, Gtr Manchester said: ‘There were about a dozen people being vaccinated at a time.

‘But I think there were about 50 people waiting to be done.

‘You couldn’t tell whether staff were army or not as they were all in white overalls.

‘I only had to wait five minutes before I had my jab.

‘Then I had to wait 15 minutes to make sure I was OK.

‘It feels wonderful to be one of the first. Now I just have to come back at the end of March.’

Daniel Lapsley, 80, was accompanied by his wife Florence, 78, to be vaccinated at the Etihad campus by City’s ground.

The grandfather-of-six said: ‘I think there were about 12 people being done as the same time as me.

‘But it was definitely only running at about half capacity.

‘There were empty spaces around me so they were be able to vaccinate a huge amount of people when it is fully up and running.’

Florence said: ‘It was running well but they were saying things like: ‘We could do it this way’.

‘It is only the first day so they were fine tuning things.

‘I didn’t get my jab so was very jealous of my husband.

‘I’m a bit younger so I have to wait a bit longer.’

Retired steel worker Ron Wadsworth, 94, of Swinton, Gtr Manchester said: ‘It feels great to have innoculated.

‘It seems to run very smoothly.

‘There was hardly any waiting and they were all vert welcoming.

‘I just have to come back in 12 weeks.’ 

The hubs will be staffed by trained volunteers from both St John Ambulance and the NHS Volunteer Responder scheme alongside NHS staff. 

At the Newcastle site, some key workers received their jab over the weekend in advance of the doors officially opening to the public today.

There are around 1,000 vaccination centres, of which 800 are GP-led, but this will rise to 1,200 over the course of the week.

Professor Stephen Powis, the NHS’s national medical director, said: ‘Please don’t contact the NHS to seek a vaccine, we will contact you.’ 

It comes as 1.5 million in priority groups have received one of the jabs, and in order to meet the target of 13.9 million people in priority groups by mid-February there needs to be at least two million vaccinations a week.   

And Boris Johnson wants to open 50 mass vaccination centres across the country within weeks to help hit his target of offering vaccines to nearly 14 million people by the middle of next month.

It is reported at least another 43 hubs are now being planned for areas with large populations.

A source told the Sunday Telegraph: ‘By mid-February there will be 50 [of them].’

It is a minimum requirement for any public immunisation centre to manage 1,000 weekly doses, and these centres will be some of the largest in the UK.

The expansion of the inoculation programme is being handled by Nadhim Zahawi MP, who Mr Johnson recently made the minister for Covid-19 Vaccine Deployment.

But The Times has claimed much of the planning for the rollout had already been done before the former-businessman was appointed to the role. 

Mr Zahawi’s role has since been dismissed by some as a redundant position to assuage backbench calls for a ‘minister for vaccines’. 

One person involved in the rollout said: ‘I don’t think the success of the vaccine programme will depend on Nadhim Zahawi.’

Downing St had been worried about the relatively slow pace of the vaccinations across the country, with NHS boss Sir Simon Stevens said to be keeping ministers at ‘an arm’s length’ from distribution logistics. 

Senior government sources played down fears of glitches in the roll-out, saying that delivery of vaccines to the NHS had been ‘lumpy’.

One said: ‘This is a biological compound. It was always going to be lumpy. You get a delivery and they say ‘we have had a delay, can we do the batch in a week’s time’. And then the MHRA has to do inspections.’

Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are running their own Covid vaccination programmes. Scotland will have enough Covid vaccine by the end of this month to vaccinate its top four priority groups, sources said.

Fears remain that the government may be overpromising how much can realistically be delivered, with Health Secretary Matt Hancock this morning saying that every adult in the country will be offered a COVID-19 vaccine by the autumn.

More than 600,000 people age 80 and over will begin receiving invitations this week to get the coronavirus shot at new large-scale vaccine centers around England.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock said that officials were ‘on track’ to reach the 13.5 million target by the middle of February.

The vaccination drive comes as Britain sees a steep increase in infections and record numbers of COVID-19 patients being hospitalised, with many experts warning that the situation is more dire than it was when the country went into its first lockdown last spring.

Office of National Statistics figures last week estimated that 1 in 50 people in England had the virus. 

Britain today suffered 563 coronavirus deaths – the third deadliest Sunday in the whole pandemic. Infections were recorded at 54,940, the thirteenth day in a row where the number was above 50,000. 

Mr Hancock said that more than 200,000 people are being vaccinated in England every day, and that by autumn, the entire adult population should have been offered a jab.

‘We’ve got over 350 million doses on order – they’re not all here yet. We’re rolling them out as fast as they get delivered,’ he told the Andrew Marr show. 

‘But we are going to have enough to be able to offer a vaccine to everyone over the age of 18 by the autumn.’ 

Tracy Nicholls, the chief executive of the College of Paramedics, said members have reported ambulances left lining up outside hospitals waiting for up to nine hours, unable to hand patients over to emergency rooms.

‘This year particularly has seen incredible pressure because of the clinical presentation of the patients our members are seeing. They are sicker,’ she said.

‘We are seeing the ambulance handover delays at a scale we haven’t seen before.’

England entered a third national lockdown in the beginning of January, which closed all nonessential shops, schools, colleges and universities for at least six weeks.

Regulators the MHRA authorised the Moderna vaccine this week, making it the third to be licensed for use after Pfizer-BioNTech and Oxford University-AstraZeneca vaccines.

Trials suggest that the Moderna jab is 94.5 per cent effective in preventing symptoms and that it works in older people.

The government said yesterday that it had increased its order by 10 million doses to 17 million. Each person requires two shots.

However while batches of the other two are already being sent out to vaccination centres, the Moderna jab will not be available until the autumn, after waiting for trial data before making a commitment.  

The United States and the European Union are ahead in the queue for the shot.