Covid-19 vaccination campaign – January update

Since our last newsletter there have been a number of developments with the Covid vaccination campaign, most notably: The approval of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine, NHS England’s instruction to prioritise essential services to free capacity for vaccinations and the arrival of vaccine stock into GP-led sites outside of the Wave 1 pilots.

Our Covid vaccination microsite has all the guidance GPs and practice teams need, with regular updates as and when additional information is released. Our Living Guide, which provides information on the wider Covid response, is now available in the same microsite format.

Government guidance around the Oxford/AstraZenca vaccine has been collected here, covering both patients and providers. It is also worth noting that NHS England’s vaccine ES service specification has been updated to include details on it, as has the standard operating procedure.

On 7 January NHS England wrote to GPs, with instructions to prioritise particular areas of work, while committing to providing the funding for certain areas of QOF and enhanced services without practices having to deliver them. This is intended to free up staff time to be allocated to the Covid vaccination campaign, but at Londonwide LMCs we are aware that in many areas’ practices had already taken similar steps due to unprecedented demand for core services over the Christmas period and into the start of January.

We are also aware of concerns around vaccine hesitancy in the general population, specifically among communities who are well represented in London. You can read more on this here.

Last updated : 27 Jan 2021

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