More on KentOnline
More on KentOnline
More than 15 million people in the UK have received their first dose of a Covid vaccine – just over two months since the first jab was administered.
Here are your questions answered about the future of the biggest vaccination programme in NHS history.
Initially the NHS reached out to the top four priority groups, including those over the age of 70 and health and care staff, aiming to offer the jab to everyone in this group by mid-February.
On Sunday, the Government said 15 million people in the UK had received their first dose – though the exact figures were expected to be published later in the afternoon.
The second dose of the jab can be delayed between four and 12 weeks. This means people receiving their jab today may be getting their second vaccine in May.
KMTV visited Kent's first mass vaccination centre when it opened in Folkestone
The priority list set out by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation is:
1. Care home residents and their carers
2. People over the age of 80 and front-line health and social care workers
3. People over the age of 75
4. People over the age of 70 and those deemed to be “clinically extremely vulnerable”
5. People over the age of 65
6. People aged 16 to 64 with underlying health conditions, which put them at higher risk of serious disease and death.
7. People over the age of 60
8. People over the age of 55
9. People over the age of 50
In England, people aged 65 to 69 and those who are clinically vulnerable are being invited to book their Covid-19 jab as the vaccination programme moves into a new phase on Monday.
The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) has not yet set out plans on who should be vaccinated beyond the top nine priority groups.
But Health Secretary Matt Hancock has pledged that all UK adults will be offered a Covid vaccine by autumn.
It is unknown whether key workers will be offered the jab as a priority.
The JCVI is currently discussing what the future plans should look like and expects to set out these recommendations by the end of the month.
The impact of the vaccination programme will not be immediately felt in the NHS.
But the health service should soon start to see some big reductions in hospital admissions.
It has been estimated that giving people in the top nine priority groups the jab will reduce deaths by up to 99%.
Not yet. We don’t know whether or not the vaccines stop people from transmitting the virus. And questions have been raised about how protective they are against new variants.
And it takes time for the body to build up immunity after the jab – people are not protected straight away. And it is important to get the second jab to get the full protection offered by the vaccine.
The NHS changed messaging from ‘wait until we contact you’ to ‘contact us’ to ask people to book their jab.
Over-70s can book through the website or by calling 119.
Three mass vaccination centres have been set up in Kent. There's one in Folkestone, in the former Debenhams store in Sandgate Road; one in the Odeon Luxe cinema, which is part of the Lockmeadow complex in Barker Road, Maidstone, and another at The Angel Centre in Tonbridge. On Friday, MPs confirmed the Medway Towns will also get a dedicated mass vaccination centre. The hub is expected to open next month at an as yet unannounced location, while more jabs are also being provided at smaller sites across the county too.
