Covid: Calls for healthcare workers to be vaccinated as soon as possible as NHS being ‘brought to knees’

Medical groups have urged the government to vaccinate healthcare workers as a matter of priority after increasing demand for NHS services due to a spike in coronavirus infections.

Pressure has been mounting in recent days as hospitals attempt to deal with a surge in Covid-19 patients as Health Secretary Matt Hancock prepares to plunge more areas of the country into strict tier 4 restrictions.

The approval of the Oxford/AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine by the regulator on Wednesday morning has prompted professional health bodies, such as the British Medical Association, to call for NHS staff to be prioritised in getting the jab.

Professor Andrew Goddard, president of the Royal College of Physicians said: "The authorisation of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine is brilliant news. The pandemic is bringing the NHS to its knees and this is the way out.

"Frontline NHS and care staff must be vaccinated in the next couple of weeks as a priority as the current pressures on the NHS will be impossible to withstand without a fit and protected workforce."

Dame Donna Kinnair, Chief Executive and General Secretary of the Royal College of Nursing said the annoucement of the virus was “very welcome news” but that getting the vaccine to all that need it will be a “huge undertaking.”

She added: “Now that a second vaccine is available, health and care staff must be considered a priority alongside the clinically vulnerable, so that they may continue to safely care for their patients. 

"This includes not only nursing staff working in care homes and hospitals, but also those working in primary and community care, many of whom will be delivering the vaccine itself.“

"Getting the vaccine to all those who need it will be a huge undertaking. The government must ensure there is enough resource, including funding and clinical staff, to deliver the programme successfully and safely, while maintaining the usual services that patients require.”

Covid-19 cases have been rising rapid in the UK, with health authorities in England, Scotland and Wales reporting very busy services, amid fears they could be overwhelmed.

GP Dr Phil White, who is chairman of the Welsh GPs Committee, said healthcare workers to get the jab first in order to ease pressure on the country’s healthcare system, as reported by the BBC.

Mr Hancock on Wednesday warned the NHS is “under pressure" as he is expected to move further areas of the country into further lockdown restrictions today and an announcement is expected today from Education Secretary Gavin Williamson on the opening of schools.

Dr Chaand Nagpaul, BMA council chair, said: “With infections spreading rapidly across the country, and with record numbers of Covid-19 patients now in hospital, piling pressure on the health service like never before, the approval of another safe, effective vaccine is welcome news for doctors and the public alike.

“It is now crucial that supplies of this vaccine are given to as many GP practice sites and hospital hubs as possible, and that this happens quickly so that we can begin vaccination en masse.

“With 100 million doses of this vaccine already ordered we need to see a step change in distribution so that doctors can protect their patients and communities, beginning with those most at risk, and crucially this must include health and social care workers as they confront the virus on the front line."

Around 800,000 people have received the vaccine in the UK so far, but it is not clear how many of that number are frontline healthcare workers.

In the published UK-wide guidance from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, frontline health and social care workers are second in the priority list behind residents in care homes.

However a recent survey by EveryDoctor indicated that two thirds of medics are struggling to get the vaccine.

The UK has recorded more than two million coronavirus infections and a death toll now above 70,000.