Covid news - live: First patients to get jabs tomorrow as UK prepares for ‘biggest vaccination programme in its history
A coronavirus vaccine has arrived in UK hospitals to be used for the first time in the battle against the virus in the country - as health officials say many of the most vulnerable will not receive the immunisation until 2021.
But the first patients will get vaccinated tomorrow as rollout begins, with the UK health secretary saying “there is light at the end of the tunnel”.
Professor Stephen Powis, NHS national medical director, said the distribution of the vaccine would be a “marathon not a sprint”, while Chris Hopson, chief executive of NHS Providers, said people need to “hang fire” and be assured they have not been forgotten if they have not received a letter or a phone call about the jab.
“I don’t think people should expect anything over the next few days” Mr Hopson said, “because the reality is, as I said, that for the vast, vast, vast majority of people this will be done in January, February, March.
“And the one thing that we don’t want people to get anxious about or concerned about is ‘Where’s my letter?’ in December.”
