My Lords, I declare my interest as advising the board of the Dispensing Doctors’ Association, and I would like to focus on the rollout of the vaccinations. Does my noble friend the Minister share my concern that a delivery of over 1,000 vaccines to a rural practice in Suffolk was cancelled at less than a week’s notice? This is happening across the country—in Devon the same as in Suffolk. Dispensing doctors are the ideal vaccinators for the elderly and stand prepared to play their part. Yet notice and certainty of delivery are essential, mindful of the distances and needs of patients in far-flung rural areas to reach the surgery.
It seems that successful vaccination sites are being prevented from getting more vaccines, possibly because they are considered to have successfully vaccinated a greater percentage of patients than neighbouring sites. Yet there are media reports that an internet pharmacy—Pharmacy2U—is to be allowed to vaccinate people in supermarket car parks. Where is the infrastructure to support this? A GP practice wanting to operate vaccinations from a car park would currently be prevented from doing so. Remote NHS management teams seem to be dictating how much can be supplied rather than allowing individual practices to request what they require for their population. Thus, there is no certainty of supply and an inability to plan clinics efficiently and effectively. Those with proven expertise in the provision of vaccinations are being prevented from doing their job.
I also raise the concern that over-65s will not be vaccinated before the middle of February, which appears to be a slippage in timing. Yet this age group is as likely to require hospitalisation as those in the four priority groups. Equally, a change to the date and timing of the second dose of vaccination is not supported by the pilots, on the basis of which regulatory approval was given, and flouts the recommendation of all scientific authority, not least the World Health Organization.
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