The Times - UK (2020-12-03)

10 2GM Thursday December 3 2020 | the times

News

People in offices and schools in areas
with high levels of infection should
wear facemasks indoors, according to
new, stricter guidance from the World
Health Organisation.
It also recommended masks if a
visitor came to your home who was not
a member of your household.
The update, released as many coun-
tries are experiencing a second wave of
the virus, was based on “new scientific
evidence” and offered more specific ad-
vice to the public, officials said.
The WHO said: “In areas where the
virus is circulating, masks should be
worn when you’re in crowded settings,
where you can’t be at least one metre
from others, and in rooms with poor or
unknown ventilation.
“It’s not always easy to determine the
quality of ventilation, which depends
on the rate of air change, recirculation
and outdoor fresh air. So if you have any
doubts, it’s safer to simply wear a mask.”
In further guidance, it added: “If a vis-
itor comes to your home who is not a

Wear a mask in the office, says WHO

Kat Lay member of the household, wear a mask
if you cannot maintain a physical dis-
tance or the ventilation is poor.”
Masks should also be worn outside “if
you cannot maintain physical distance
from others”, it said, for example when
at “busy markets, crowded streets and
bus stops”.
The WHO said its Covid-19 guidance
development group “considered all
available evidence on the use of masks
by the general public including
effectiveness, level of certainty and
other potential benefits and harms, with
respect to transmission scenarios,
indoor versus outdoor settings, physical
distancing and ventilation”.
The recommendations were made
“despite the limited evidence of protec-
tive efficacy of mask-wearing in com-
munity settings” and should not be seen
as a replacement for other measures
such as handwashing and social dis-
tancing, it said. “You should always
clean your hands before and after using
a mask, and before touching it while
wearing it,” it added. “While wearing a
mask, you should still keep physical dis-

tance from others as much as possible.

Wearing a mask does not mean you can

have close contact with people.”

The use of face coverings to stop the

spread of coronavirus is among the

more controversial measures that gov-

ernments have adopted. In England

they are required on public transport

and in libraries, shops and churches.

The updated guidance from the

WHO said that under-fives should not

wear masks and a “risk-based ap-

proach” was needed for six to 11-year-

olds. Those 12 and over should follow

the same rules as adults. People over 60

and with conditions including cancer,

heart disease and diabetes should wear

medical masks in preference to cloth

face coverings, it added.

A study in Denmark last month that

compared two groups, one wearing

masks in public and one not, did not

find a protective effect for the wearers.

However, supporters said that their

true value was in source control —

preventing the wearer from passing the

virus on — a factor that the study was

not able to examine.

At some point in the next few days,
possibly even today, shipments of the
Pfizer/Biontech vaccine will arrive on
British soil.
They are packed in special containers
affectionately known as “pizza boxes”,
stacked in piles with each flat tray con-
taining about 1,000 doses.
The vaccine will then be checked and
double-checked by Public Health En-
gland officials, before being sent off
around the country for the coronavirus
immunisation programme to begin in
earnest.
It is, however, only the start of what is
set to be the largest mass vaccination
programme in history, involving hospi-
tals, GPs and new specialist vaccination
centres.
Sir Simon Stevens, chief executive of
NHS England, told a Downing Street
briefing: “Although we are the first
health service in the world to be able to
get vaccinating, supplies from the man-
ufacturer are phased.
“So the initial tranche in December is
going to enable us to get started, but the
bulk of this vaccination programme, ei-
ther through this vaccine or hopefully
others as well that will join it, will take
place in the period January through to
March or April.”
Exactly who gets the vaccine and in
what order has been set out by the Joint
Committee on Vaccines and Immuni-
sation. They said that elderly care
home residents and their carers were
top of the list, followed by over-80s and
health and social care workers.
The first tranche of Pfizer/Biontech
vaccines will go to hospital hubs that
are already able to deal with the
requirement that they be stored at
minus 70C. Matt Hancock, the health
secretary, said that there were 50

NHS gears up for

Britain’s greatest

mass vaccination

Kat Lay Health Editor
Chris Smyth Whitehall Editor
Rhys Blakely Science Correspondent

hospitals around England preparing to

begin vaccination next week. How-

ever, most care home residents are un-

likely to get access to those vaccines

because the doses cannot be easily

transported from the hospitals to the

homes.

Ben Osborn, UK country manager at

Pfizer, said: “This does need to be care-

fully transported across, and when you

start getting into individual care homes

of very different sizes and scales, the

physical movement does become more

challenging.”

It is “not impossible”, he said, but the

NHS was working to “essentially

deploy this as quickly as they possibly

can in the most efficient way”.

Care home residents are likely to

need to cross their fingers for the

approval of the Oxford/Astrazeneca

vaccine, which only requires refrigera-

tion, and can therefore be more easily

taken out by GPs or district nurses to

residents.

Dr Richard Vautrey, BMA GP com-

mittee chairman, said that while “prac-

tices have responded rapidly in recent

weeks to put in place arrangements so

that they are ready to deliver vaccina-

tions once they are made available”,

they had not been told that they would

be involved in distributing the Pfizer/

Biontech vaccine.

He added: “Given these challenges,

some people may have to wait a little

longer for a more stable vaccine to

become available, and we’d urge the

public to be patient. We don’t expect

practices to be getting any vaccines for

at least another two weeks and we

believe the campaign will begin in full

force in the new year.”

NHS England has told GPs to work

in groups of practices called primary

care networks, designating one site in

each area to host a vaccination pro-

gramme between 8am and 8pm, seven

days a week, “including bank holidays”

— although it clarified yesterday that

they would not need to work Christmas

Day unless a vaccine was available. Sir

Simon Stevens, the chief executive of

NHS England, said that those GP

clinics would be “turned on” over the

coming weeks as more vaccines

became available.

Each site has been told to plan to

deliver a minimum of 975 doses a week

and more than 1,000 are expected to be

set up. They have been promised at

least a week’s notice, which has not yet

been given.

The GP sites will be followed by doz-

ens of mass vaccination centres, set to

come on stream next year, which could

reportedly employ 10,000 new staff.

Epsom racecourse in Surrey and

Ashton Gate football stadium in Bristol

have been named as potential sites.

They will be joined by the NHS Night-

ingale hospital at London’s ExCel

centre, where officials are advertising

900 posts on nine-month contracts to

begin in January, with previous experi-

ence and relevant qualifications “pre-

ferred but not essential”.

They include administrators who

will be responsible for patient record

keeping and recording vaccination

data, healthcare assistants and people

to work “front of house” as patients

check in for their jabs.

Nationally, paid staff will be joined by

volunteers. Local pharmacists, who

deliver a lot of annual flu jabs, will also

be involved in delivering vaccines from

next year, Sir Simon added.

Jonathan Van-Tam, the deputy chief

medical officer for England, said: “In

time, you will be invited to book your

appointments to get your vaccinations.

I urge you to be ready, and to help

make the process as smooth as possible.

For now, stay patient, and keep

yourselves safe by continuing to follow

the rules and maintaining social dis-

tancing.”

St John Ambulance has been given the

task of preparing thousands of volun-

teers to deliver the Covid-19 jab as part

of the NHS vaccination programme.

The mass vaccination centres, which

are expected to begin their work next

year, will involve 30,500 volunteers

working alongside paid staff.

About a third will be trained by the

charity to give people the vaccine, with

the rest working either to reassure and

help people coming in for their jabs, or

to keep an eye on them afterwards.

Richard Lee, St John Ambulance’s

chief operating officer, said: “We are

proud to have been asked to lead the

voluntary sector’s contribution in help-

ing the NHS deliver its mass vaccina-

tion programme.

“This new agreement highlights just

how much respect our charity has won

during our ongoing response to the

pandemic, as the nation’s health re-

serve and a trusted partner to the NHS.

“St John people are best known for

News Coronavirus

Outer

carton

Payload sleeve

Dry ice

pod

Insulated lid

“Thermal

shipper”

container

Payload

(vaccines)

Special “thermal

shipper” containers

keep vaccine at minus 70C

for up to 15 days. Each

holds between 1,

and 5,000 doses

2

Containers are

tagged with

GPS trackers and

can only be opened

twice a day, for a

minute at a time

3

Once defrosted, the doses

can be kept in a normal

fridge for five days

4

Doses will be taken to care

homes, mass vaccination

centres and sites manned by

GPs. Doses can also be kept in

cool bags at between 2C and

8C for up to six hours. These

bags could be couriered to care

homes and other vaccination

sites by motorbike

5

FRANCE BELGIUM

UK

Brussels

Puurs

Pfizer vaccine is manufactured

in Belgium. As many as ten

million doses will be flown to

the UK by end of this year

1

Each primary care

network should

deliver at least 975 doses

a week, NHS England

said. At that rate, it

would take about five

months to vaccinate

everyone over 65

6

40m

doses ordered

by the UK

December

Priority groups

5.3m

2.4m

2.5m

3.4m

1.1m

1

2

3

4

80

75

70

The mission ahead

How it gets here

Planned rollout

es

Residents in a care home for older adults and their carers

All those aged 80 and over

Frontline health and social care workers

All those aged 75-

All those aged 70-74 and clinically extremely vulnerable individuals

Care home residents and

staff, healthcare workers

from early December

Over-80s

from mid-December

Everyone aged 70-

from late December

St John Ambulance to

Kat Lay helping the events that bring commu-

nities together happen — from football

matches to firework displays. Like

everyone else, we are keen to get back

to normal and mass vaccination is a

vital way of making that happen.”

The charity is working with other

groups, including the Royal Voluntary

Service, to get people on board.

The NHS has asked its “volunteer

responders” to put themselves forward

through the Goodsam app.

In an email, they were told: “By join-

ing in, you will play your part in helping

the nation turn the tide against Covid-

19, saving lives and allowing us to finally

return to normal life.”

St John Ambulance has provided first

aid and first aid training for more than

140 years. During the pandemic, its vol-

unteers have worked on board ambu-

lances and in hospitals, as well as help-

ing to deliver community flu jabs.

Mr Lee added: “Between now and

spring 2021, we have plans to train more

than 30,000 volunteers, using our long-

standing expertise in empowering