Coronavirus: UK to kickstart world’s first Covid vaccination rollout in less than 24 hours

Patients will be given NHS inoculation card after receiving jab

A technician at Croydon Health Services takes delivery of the first batch of Covid-19 vaccinations
A technician at Croydon Health Services takes delivery of the first batch of Covid-19 vaccinations
(Image credit: Gareth Fuller/Pool/AFP via Getty Images)

Batches of the world’s first coronavirus vaccine are arriving at dozens of UK hospitals as medics prepare to administer the first doses to patients tomorrow.

With the world watching the launch of the immunisation programme, early images from south London show staff “unloading doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech jab from boxes at Croydon University Hospital before placing them in freezers on the site”, Sky News reports.

Urging eligible patients to “hang fire” if they have not yet been invited to be immunised, NHS Providers chief executive Chris Hopson said that “for the vast, vast, vast majority of people, this will be done in January, February and March”.

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Once vaccinated, patients will be given immunisation cards that list the vaccine name, date of immunisation and batch number of each of the doses given. They also feature a reminder to “keep this record card in your purse or wallet”.

As The Guardian reports, the rollout of the vaccine is the “largest and most complex vaccination campaign in the country’s history”.

NHS staff worked “through the weekend to prepare immunisation clinics and compile lists of who should be invited to have the jab first”, the paper adds. And “to ensure no vaccine or time is wasted, spare appointments will be offered to those healthcare workers who are at high risk from the coronavirus”.

Joe Evans is the world news editor at TheWeek.co.uk. He joined the team in 2019 and held roles including deputy news editor and acting news editor before moving into his current position in early 2021. He is a regular panellist on The Week Unwrapped podcast, discussing politics and foreign affairs. 

Before joining The Week, he worked as a freelance journalist covering the UK and Ireland for German newspapers and magazines. A series of features on Brexit and the Irish border got him nominated for the Hostwriter Prize in 2019. Prior to settling down in London, he lived and worked in Cambodia, where he ran communications for a non-governmental organisation and worked as a journalist covering Southeast Asia. He has a master’s degree in journalism from City, University of London, and before that studied English Literature at the University of Manchester.