‘ Health experts ready in moment of crisis’
Plea by pharmacists after autumn pledge on vaccine
THE GOVERNMENT is facing growing calls to utilise all of Yorkshire’s 1,055 community pharmacies to accelerate the delivery of the coronavirus vaccine, as the Health Secretary promised every adult in the country would have the jab by the autumn.
Matt Hancock set the ambitious target as he said it was likely vaccines would need to be delivered yearly, much like the flu jab.
The Government will today publish its Covid- 19 UK Vaccines Delivery Plan, which Mr Hancock will set out at a Downing Street press conference this afternoon.
But pharmacists were puzzled as to why their expertise had not yet been called upon. Daniel Brash, a community pharmacist and co- director of Mitchells Pharmacy, in Horsforth, Leeds, said: “Our customers are asking us ‘ if you get some will you please let us know’.”
Labour’s Shadow Health Secretary Jonathan Ashworth said: “I urge Ministers to fully mobilise the skills and expertise of community pharmacies to get Britain vaccinated.”
Mr Hancock has said he was confident of the involvement of 200 pharmacy sites in the jabs programme, which could be expanded further.
But Dr Leyla Hannbeck, chief executive of the Association of Independent Multiple Pharmacies,
said more could be done to utilise the country’s 11,500 local pharmacies. She said: “We want to ensure that at this moment of national crisis the Government does not ignore what is a national institution of health experts, right under our noses and accessible without an appointment.”
Hull East Labour MP Karl Turner said his local pharmacist wanted to know why the Government was “shunning an army of experienced pharmacy technicians”.
He said: “They can get these out fast and safely. The Government needs to get a grip, use our trusted community pharmacies and get Britain vaccinated.”
Mr Hancock told the Health and Social Care Committee last week: “We need to make sure we get to all communities, and community pharmacies precisely, as you said, are highly engaged in their community, often more local than any other healthcare setting.” He added: “There’s a big role for community pharmacy, especially in making sure that we reach all parts with this vaccination rollout.”
An NHS spokesperson said: “Pharmacies are already working with GPs to deliver the vaccine in many areas of the country. As more supply becomes available, community pharmacists able to administer large numbers of vaccine will play a role in the NHS’s phased vaccination programme, the biggest in the health service’s history.”