Coronavirus: Doctors to be 'put on standby for potential December vaccine rollout'

Doctors will be told to be ready to manage a potential coronavirus vaccine rollout from as early as December, according to reports.

GPs will be asked to be prepared to start vaccinating frontline workers – as well as over-85s – from the start of next month if needed, according to Pulse magazine.

An NHS spokesperson said “work is underway” to make sure staff can deliver a vaccine safely when one is ready.  

Pulse reported that GPs are to be placed on standby for a possible vaccine rollout next month, and will receive a "directed enhanced service" (DES) from next week which sets out how they deliver a service above their usual contract.

The GP magazine has been told the DES on a potential Covid vaccine rollout is "imminent, potentially by next week".

There are two frontrunners in the Covid-19 vaccine race - candidates from German biotech firm BioNtech and US pharmaceutical company Pfizer and the vaccine candidate being developed by University of Oxford and AstraZeneca.

Both vaccine candidates are currently in phase three clinical trials. 

Before any vaccine comes to the market, regulators have to confirm they are safe and effective.

The professor leading the Oxford vaccine programme has said their candidate could be made available for medics and vulnerable patients before the end of the year.

It was reported last month NHS trusts in England had been told to be prepared to start a coronavirus vaccine programme for staff in early December. 

Health and social care workers are among the first groups of people who should be given any approved vaccine first, according to the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation. 

Along with over-80s, they should be prioritised after older adults resident in a care home and care home workers, the group said. 

“While there are no certainties in the development, production, and timing of new vaccines, there is a possibility a Covid-19 vaccine could be available in the UK in the first part of 2021,” a Department of Health and Social Care spokesman said.

“It will only be rolled out once proven to be safe and effective through robust clinical trials and approved by medicines regulator the MHRA (the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency).”

The spokesperson added: "Once approved, the NHS stands ready to begin the vaccination programme to those most at risk, before being rolled out more widely."

A spokesperson for the NHS said: "The NHS has well-established plans for delivering vaccinations across the country including the annual flu jab and children's immunisations and work is under way to build on these tried and tested approaches, so that when a vaccine is ready, staff can deliver it safely."

Additional reporting by Press Association