Mword Issue 73 - Dr Michelle Drage's latest update for GPs and practice teams

18 November 2020

• We all desperately want these vaccines to be successful.
• The principle of First Do No Harm remains our over-riding duty as doctors.
• Sorting the hype from the best available evidence is challenging right now. We cannot allow the hype to influence us in guiding / consenting / vaccinating patients.
• Evidence about the efficacy of, and longer term protection provided by, the vaccine is understandably incomplete.
• Our "temperature checks" show that while approximately 45% of practice respondents intend "signing up to the DES, now NHS ES", approximately 45% of respondents are unsure, and over half want more information and support to help them make a decision.
• With the vaccination programme evolving by the day, and given the challenges of the nature, storage and delivery of these vaccines, it is still far from clear how it will operate in our complex capital city, where all of the usual limitations of space, physical and organisational boundaries will need to be overcome.
• December 1st is the date set by Government for the NHS to be ready, but it is increasingly clear it is highly unlikely to be the date on which the vaccine rollout begins.

• Lots of people are having lots of meetings.
• It is important to avoid over-complicating this process with unproductive activity.
• GPs and practice teams still have to do the day job.

Dr Michelle Drage MBBS FRCGP
CEO, Londonwide LMCs