Speaking during an NHSE&I webinar last week (November 18), head of the COVID-19 vaccination programme Emily Lawson hinted at the NHS’s hopes for vaccination sites to have administered 100 million COVID-19 vaccines by December 8 – which marks the one-year anniversary of the first COVID-19 jab administered.

Dr Lawson said: “Community pharmacy has been at the heart of this programme since January 14, and it will continue to be so. So, it's incredibly important that you feel included and supported.”

As of yesterday (November 25), more than 95 million COVID-19 vaccine doses had been administered in England, of which 13.7 million are booster jabs.

When approached by C+D, NHSE&I said the Department of Health and Social Care (DH) might be better suited to comment on the 100 million anniversary goal.

The DH has also been approached for comment.

 

Days away from December 8

 

Referring to the number of doses administered by NHS teams, Dr Lawson acknowledged they have done “amazingly well”. However, she noted December 8 is only a few days away. 

The vaccination programme has “been reaching on average about two million people a week with boosters alone”, she added. “Over the last few weeks, we could up that to doing two and a half million or more a week.”

During the webinar, it was revealed that community pharmacy delivered more than a third (700,000) of the two million booster jabs administered in the second week of November. 

 

“We really have an opportunity to up our pace”

 

Last week, people aged over 40 became eligible to receive a COVID-19 booster jab from any UK vaccination site.

Those who are eligible for a COVID-19 booster vaccine now are people who were vaccinated in mid-May, Dr Lawson told the webinar attendees.

“In mid-May, we were doing 2.2 million second doses a week. So, if we're not doing 2.2 million boosters a week, then we're not keeping up with demand,” she said. “Plus, at the moment, as you heard, we’ve reached 72% of the eligible over 50s. That's not everybody.”

“We really have an opportunity to up our pace, meet some of the backlog of people who haven't yet come forward for their booster and start to meet the capacity of people coming forward every week,” she added.

“If we were at that two and a half million or higher capacity, we would be able to reach 100 million [COVID-19 vaccinations] in the anniversary week that we vaccinated Margaret Keenan.”

As of October 13, 1,160 pharmacies were signed up to offer COVID-19 vaccines. However, NHSE&I director for primary care strategy and NHS contracts Ed Waller revealed last month that he expects the number of pharmacies participating in the COVID-19 vaccination programme to increase.

 

Contractors putting pressure on pharmacists “simply not acceptable”

 

Last month, the Pharmacists’ Defence Association (PDA) shared guidance on “prioritising a safety-first approach to flu vaccinations”, after concerns were raised over safe staffing levels due to high demand for flu vaccinations.

When asked by C+D whether PDA members had reported similar pressures over hitting COVID-19 vaccination numbers, PDA director Paul Day said: “Responsible pharmacists have a statutory duty to secure the safe and effective running of a pharmacy, through the considered application of their professional judgement. Most pharmacy contractors are also retailers; however, vaccines are not ordinary items of commerce to be ‘stacked high and sold cheap’ with unrealistic targets being set. 

“Flu and COVID-19 vaccinations are a critical service to patients during the pandemic often delivered concurrently alongside other equally important pharmaceutical services to patients. Pharmacy contractors pressuring pharmacists who challenge unrealistic vaccination targets due to safety concerns is simply not acceptable.

“PDA members report that this can manifest itself through area managers challenging the judgement of the responsible pharmacist who raises safety concerns and by what appears to be a singular focus on vaccination numbers, with little or no emphasis on aspects such as safety or the other obligations of providing essential pharmacy services often with limited resources.”

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