Covid-19 vaccine arrives UK with first jabs starting at Chesterfield hospitals 'from Tuesday'

The Chesterfield Royal Hospital NHS Foundation Trust has been given the green light to start administering the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine on Tuesday, December 8 after it was announced yesterday that it would be one of 53 trusts to receive the jab first.

In a letter sent out to health bosses last month, hospitals in Chesterfield, Sherwood Forest and Sheffield were named as the new ‘vaccine hubs’ who will be start administering the injection.

Head of NHS Providers Chris Hopson clarified that hospitals nominated to distribute the jab would be able to start vaccinations on Tuesday in an interview with BBC Breakfast this morning.

He said that the 53 hubs on the list now face the challenge of working out how many over-80s, care home residents and staff they can get to to administer the first batches of the jab.

There has been concern about difficulty of delivering the vaccination, as the jab has to be transported and kept at minus 70c before it is injected.

The injections can only be moved four times and health professionals must ensure that the two doses of the vaccine are administered three weeks apart.

However Chesterfield Royal Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and the other 52 hospital hubs were picked to receive the vaccination first as they have special refrigerators to keep the jab at minus 70c.

Details of how the trust will roll out the vaccine or where the vaccines will be administered have not yet been revealed, but it is understood that elderly residents will be deemed ‘high priority’ and offered the vaccine first.

Most of the vaccine rollout will take place next year, alongside the Oxford/AstraZeneca version which is likely to considerably boost supply of the jab according to Business Secretary Alok Sharma.

Some of the 800,000 doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine are now in the UK and Mr Sharma said he is “confident” that all of them will be available when the vaccination programme starts.

The Pfizer/BioNTech injection was approved by MHRA regulators for use in the UK yesterday (Thursday, December 3) and the second Covid-19 vaccine currently being developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University is still under review.

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