Everything you need to know about the UK’s COVID-19 vaccination programme

The biggest vaccination programme in the UK’s history began on 8 December 2020 when Margaret Keenan, who was then aged 90 years, was vaccinated at University Hospital, Coventry, with a COVID-19 vaccine manufactured and developed by Pfizer and BioNTech.

By 27 January 2021, more than six million people had received a vaccination, with nearly 450,000 people being given two doses of a vaccine. But how is the programme arranged, and how are phar­macies and the pharmacy profession getting involved?

Which vaccines have been authorised?

On 2 December 2020, the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 became the first COVID-19 vaccine that could be adminis­tered in the UK when it was authorised by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).

Data from BioNTech and Pfizer sug­gest that it is more than 90% effective in preventing COVID-19 when two doses are given.

The MHRA has since authorised a vac­cine manufactured by the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca, which also requires two doses, but can be kept at reg­ular refrigeration temperatures.

Another vaccine, developed by Moderna, has also been approved, but supplies will not be available in the UK until spring 2021.

Other vaccines, such as those manu­factured by Novavax and Janssen, are currently in phase III clinical trials. For more information on the COVID-19 vaccine candidates and trials, read our list of ten things pharmacists should know about COVID-19 vaccines.

Who is getting the vaccine first?

The Joint Committee for Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), which advises UK health departments on immunisation, updated its prioritisation of patients to receive the vaccine on 2 December 2020.

The first four cohorts to be vaccinated are: residents in a care home for older adults and their carers; all those aged 80 years and over, and frontline health and social care workers; people aged 75 years and over; and everyone aged 70 years and over, and clinically extremely vulnerable individuals.

The Westminster government has set a target for everyone in these four categories, around 14 million people, to have been offered a vaccination by 15 February 2021.

Following an announcement that a new, more transmissible strain of COVID-19 was circulating in the UK, the JCVI advised pri­oritising the first of the planned two vaccine doses, with the second dose being adminis­tered to patients up to 12 weeks later.

How is the vaccination programme organised?

In England, COVID-19 vaccines have been delivered from 206 hospital hubs, 1,200 local vaccination service sites — run by a mixture of primary care networks and community pharmacies — and 50 vac­cination centres located in large-scale venues, such as football stadiums.

As of 28 January 2021, 117 community pharmacies are administering vaccines across the country, with around 200 expected to join the programme. Patients are con­tacted through a national call and recall programme. Once patients are notified by the service, they will be able to book an appointment at the PCN-led vaccina­tion centre affiliated with their registered GP, or use the National Booking Service to be vaccinated by another provider, such as a community pharmacy or mass vaccination clinic. Pharmacists will be responsible for uploading clinic times to the system so that bookings can be made.

On 18 December 2020, the Welsh government laid legislation creating the Primary Care COVID-19 Immunisation Scheme, which will enable health boards to commission community pharma­cies to provide the AstraZeneca vaccine. Vaughan Gething, minister for health and social services, said this vaccine would be available from patients’ “local GP prac­tice and pharmacy”.

The Welsh government has devel­oped the Welsh Immunisation System, which will create appointments and auto­matically schedule second doses, send appointment letters and record vaccina­tions for each COVID-19 vaccine given.

“Those receiving a COVID-19 vaccina­tion will be given a credit card-sized NHS Wales immunisation card which will have the vaccine name, date of immunisation and batch number of each of the doses given handwritten on them,” he said.

Scotland started its vaccination programme on 8 December 2020 by “vac­cinating first the vaccinators themselves”.

How are pharmacists involved?

In England, as part of an enhanced service specification, GP practices running the PCN sites can subcontract COVID-19 vac­cination work to community pharmacies. Chief pharmacists at clinical commis­sioning groups are expected to support GPs at PCN-designated sites by ensuring the safe handling and use of the vaccines.

Pharmacists can also apply for an immu­niser or supervisor role in the COVID-19 vaccination programme through NHS Professionals. So far, more than 700 pharmacy staff members have applied to these roles.

Hospital pharmacists working in vaccination centres are pri­marily in charge of overseeing that the complex handling requirements of the COVID-19 vaccine are met “to ensure patient safety”.

Guidance published by NHS England noted that pharmacy input “must be con­sidered in the mass vaccination sites to maintain product integrity of the vaccine”, as the workforce mix of healthcare pro­fessionals and new recruits means “good pharmaceutical oversight is essential to ensure patient safety”.

In Scotland, first minister Nicola Stur­geon said vaccine deployment centres would be “overseen by pharmacy staff”. Health minister Jeane Freeman added that the Scottish government is in talks with pharmacy contractors “in order to secure what I would describe as their sessional time — their time in local vac­cination centres”.

Can the vaccine be administered in a community pharmacy?

Pharmacy contractors were asked to apply to NHS England for status as a designated COVID-19 vaccination site by 6 December 2020, as long as the pharmacy site met a certain set of require­ments. NHS England said a “limited number” of community pharmacy sites would be commissioned to administer vaccines under a local enhanced service.

The requirements that pharmacies need to meet to be chosen as a vaccina­tion site are very stringent. For example, pharmacy-led sites will need to deliver 1,000 vaccines each week and have capacity to store these vaccines in fridges at 2–8°C all at once.

NHS England said in its letter that it did “not expect the majority of contractors’ sites will be able to meet these require­ments”. And that proved to be the case.

Community pharmacy trade bodies called for a greater role for the sector in the vaccination programme, following the approval of the Oxford University/AstraZeneca vaccine. The Pharma­ceutical Services Negotiating Committee and other trade bodies entered into talks with the government on 11 January 2021 to discuss “using more community pharmacies” in the national COVID-19 vaccination effort, arguing that commu­nity pharmacies could vaccinate “up to one million people each week”.

In England, six community pharmacies began vaccinating patients on 14 Jan­uary 2021, and a further 65 community pharmacy-led sites started adminis­tering vaccinations from 21 January 2021. An additional 46 began administering vaccines on 28 January 2021. Malcolm Harrison, chief executive of the Company Chemists’ Association, which represents the large multiples, said his organisation had submitted proposals to NHS England on how to increase the use of community pharmacy in the vaccination drive.

The Scottish gov­ernment has not said whether there is scope for the vaccine to be delivered in community pharmacies. However, Community Pharmacy Scotland has said one health board is currently looking into using community pharmacies to provide “a complementary [vaccination] service to the main programme”, although the agreement had yet to be finalised.

Community Pharmacy Wales has urged the Welsh government to “speed up” the use of community pharmacies’ involvement in the Welsh primary care scheme for delivering the vaccine, arguing that only one health board, Hywel Dda, is taking expressions of interest. A phar­macy in the Betsi Cadwaladr health board area began piloting vaccine delivery on 15 January 2021.

How much will community pharmacies be paid for participating in the delivery programme?

Pharmacies in England, Wales and Scot­land will be paid £12.58 per vaccination on the completion of the final dose. So, for a vaccine with two doses, pharmacies will be paid £25.16.

Under the Primary Care COVID-19 Immunisation Scheme in Wales, pharma­cies will receive an additional £400 per 1,000 vaccines administered.

In England, GP practices operating under PCN-led sites have been asked to put in place a COVID-19 Enhanced Service Vaccination Collaboration Agreement, which will set out how they will work with providers in the PCN to administer the vaccines. This agreement will need to cover “financial arrangements relating to other healthcare providers (such as com­munity pharmacies) outside its PCN grouping involved in local delivery” of the vaccine. The agreement will also include subcontracting arrangements.

The NHS has established the COVID-19 Vaccination Channel (CVC), which is a dedicated supply chain to provide equip­ment and consumables to vaccination administration sites. The CVC will supply goods from a specified list, including aprons, eye protection, face masks and gloves. Cool box refrigeration and clinical waste bags, for example, are also listed for supply through the CVC.

Who else will be administering COVID-19 vaccines, beside GPs and pharmacists?

In October 2020, the government enacted changes to the Human Medi­cines Regulations, which expanded the workforce able to administer a COVID-19 vaccine. Under the amended legislation, each of the four UK nations will draw up protocols specifying eligibility for vaccine administration, including “where appro­priate, requirements for the supervision of an additional experienced vaccinator”.

The NHS is setting up a team of COVID-19 vaccinators through NHS Pro­fessionals, which is recruiting registered healthcare professionals to administer vaccines and to offer clinical supervision. According to its website, non-healthcare professionals can also apply to be immu­nisers, as long as they have at least two A-levels. First aid training is “desirable” for this role.

In Scotland, the government is looking to recruit 2,000 vaccinators and support staff by the end of January 2021, including general practitioners, pharmacists, dentists and optometrists.

Health boards and trusts in Wales have developed their own workforce plans for vaccination that identify training and recruitment needs. Health boards and trusts are using the existing workforce to fill these roles first, with additional recruit­ment ongoing.

What about pharmacy technicians?

Under the national protocol for England, pharmacy technicians can prepare and administer the vaccine. An NHS England document summarising the protocol says it allows “those who are registered healthcare professionals who cannot operate under a PGD [patient group direction], and those who are not registered healthcare professionals, to safely admin­ister a licensed or temporarily authorised COVID-19 or influenza vaccine”.

The Association of Pharmacy Techni­cians UK said in a position statement that pharmacy technicians “are not included in the national protocol definition of registered healthcare professionals” and, therefore, “cannot undertake clinical assessment or clinically supervise the process of others”.

“Pharmacy technicians can be author­ised by name to work under this protocol and do so under the supervision of a registered doctor, nurse or pharmacist.”

How will vaccinators be trained?

Vaccinators will be asked to take the COVID-19 vaccination e-learning course developed by Public Health England (PHE), Health Education England and NHS England & Improvement. Registered healthcare professionals and some unregistered and non-healthcare vaccinators will also have to undertake additional e-learning on immunisation.

All unregistered and non-healthcare vaccinators will also be given face-to-face and practical training, according to PHE guidance, before being signed off as competent by a registered healthcare professional with experience in immunisation, using the COVID-19 vaccinator competency assessment tool.

Public Health Scotland and NHS Education for Scotland have also developed educational resources to support the COVID-19 vaccination programme in Scotland, with vaccinators of all experience levels expected to review “core knowledge” resources and complete relevant proficiency documents with an experienced supervisor. Healthcare support workers new to vaccination practice will also have to complete a 12-unit e-learning course and undertake supervised practice.