COVID-19 vaccine authorised by medicines regulator.

With the good news that the Pfizer Covid-19 Vaccine has been approved for use within the UK, we hope that the journey towards normality for you as a care worker will soon be underway. We understand that the vaccine is set to be rolled out to residents of care homes and those working within these settings, closely followed by all health and social care workers starting early next week. We will be staying close to this to ensure that we engage with all opportunities to offer our workers the vaccination and we are already in talks with some of our clients to ensure Nurseplus care workers can be included in their vaccination programmes. We would also encourage you to speak with the Care Home Managers of those settings you visit regularly to find out if they can offer you a vaccination.

As soon as we have any further information on the wider roll-out to health and social care workers, we will update you. In the meantime, thank you for your continued hard work throughout this pandemic - your dedication and tenacity this year has been remarkable.

When will the Pfizer Vaccine reach the UK?

According to the Department of Health and Social Care, the vaccine will be made available across the UK as from next week, which makes Britain the first country in the western world to authorise a vaccine. With decades of experience in distributing large-scale vaccination programmes, the NHS has said to be putting vast measures into place to provide care and support to all those eligible for vaccination.

Who will receive the COVID Vaccine first?

This is dependent on where the virus is spreading once the vaccine becomes available and in which groups is most effective. Elderly care home residents and care home staff are amongst the top of the UK's Priority Groups for COVID-19 Vaccination, followed by other health carers and workers such as hospital staff and people who are 80 or older as the age of individuals (especially the elderly) are at the high risk of contracting the disease. 

For more information on the vaccine programme and coronavirus vaccine news, please visit the GOV website.