Practices could charge up to £30 a time to issue patients with vaccine certificates to enable international travel, it was reported today. The certificates would not have the status of “vaccine passports” as they cannot guarantee immunity, a government minister. Vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi said patients could ask their practice for written proof of vaccination.…

The roll-out of the COVID-19 vaccines around the UK has been one glimmer of hope during the deadly pandemic that has dominated everyone’s life for the past year. A record-breaking almost 600,000 vaccines were administered on just one day recently (30 January) across the UK and the number of people receiving one dose keeps rising…

Practices have been praised for the “wonderful” achievement of ensuring that almost every care home in England has now been offered COVID-19 vaccination. The programme has reached more than 10,000 care homes and the only ones omitted have been told to wait by local public health departments because of local outbreaks. Alongside outreach to care…

The numbers of people already vaccinated in this country is a huge success story.  Over six million doses already given and at a rate now of half a million doses per day, the majority of which have been delivered by primary care. Not many countries have a primary care system like ours, and we should…

Practices may need to ensure they add temporary staff such as sessional GPs to their vaccination lists, according to a trade union. The British Medical Association has warned that sessional GPs, especially those working as locums, are facing difficulty in many areas in getting access to COVID-19 vaccination. Their rates of vaccination are much lower…

National rationing of COVID-19 vaccines is likely to begin next week as supplies are diverted to regions that have fallen behind in the programme, it was reported today. Practices in many parts of the country have now been told they will not get supplies next week, The Times reports. The aim will be to ensure…

While the approval and subsequent roll-out of vaccines to fight coronavirus have provided much-needed hope for the nation, the actual process of doing this appears to be piling pressure on GP practices while also confusing patients. Several practice managers have reported problems with how the process is unfolding and their practices are continuing to be…