Coronavirus: Campaign to see all pharmacies administer Covid-19 vaccine continues apace

A CAMPAIGN by The News calling for every pharmacy across the UK to deliver Covid-19 vaccines continues to build momentum as thousands back the idea.
Watch more of our videos on Shots! 
and live on Freeview channel 276
Visit Shots! now

More than 4,100 people have now joined our campaign, demanding Boris Johnson recruits pharmacies to dish out the Covid-19 vaccine.

The government is currently looking to distribute the vaccine to 200 high street pharmacies across the country over the next two weeks.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

But our Shot in the Arm campaign is calling for all the government to go further and involve all of the UK’s 11,500 chemists.

The ‘Shot in the Arm’ campaign is calling on pharmacies to be used in Covid vaccination programme.The ‘Shot in the Arm’ campaign is calling on pharmacies to be used in Covid vaccination programme.
The ‘Shot in the Arm’ campaign is calling on pharmacies to be used in Covid vaccination programme.

The call has been backed by Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer, who said the government needed to ‘match the nation's ambition’.

He said: ‘Every high street has a pharmacy.

‘I want to see every possible pharmacy deployed to help.’

Now the campaign has been raised with vaccine deployment minister Nadhim Zahawi, thanks to a letter sent yesterday by Stephen Morgan, the Labour MP for Portsmouth South, who said pharmacies should not become a ‘missed opportunity’.

A shot in the armA shot in the arm
A shot in the arm

He added: ‘Adding community pharmacies would add thousands of new settings in which vaccinations can be safely administered, dramatically cut the time it takes to vaccinate everyone who needs it and allow us to lift the national lockdown faster.’

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

As Labour politicians have rallied to the cause, those in the area from the Conservative Party have tempered their support with concerns around the precious medicine going to waste.

Penny Mordaunt, MP for Portsmouth North, said: ‘What is critical is that we make use of every vaccine - so when it is being decided where to open a centre, that is a factor. We don’t want any wasted.

‘I fully expect more pharmacies to be used as more vaccine becomes available and there is a clear plan being followed.’

Havant MP Alan Mak also expects more more local high street branches will be used for the vaccine roll-out.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

He said: 'Pharmacies are already being used for vaccinations, with a focus on those that can deliver around 1,000 vaccinations a week so vaccines don’t sit in fridges unused. When Phase Two of the vaccination programme starts more pharmacies will be involved, including more local high street branches.’

Meon Valley MP Flick Drummond called pharmacies an ‘important’ resource in the vaccination programme, but there would be ‘practical limits' for those in smaller premises.