After almost a year of battling the COVID-19 pandemic, 90-year-old grandmother Margaret Keenan was the first patient in the world to receive the PfizerBioNTech vaccination at 6:31am this morning, only days after its clinical approval.

Delivered in the local hospital in Coventry by NHS nurse May Parsons, this landmark moment signals the start of the biggest vaccination programme in the history of the NHS, and what’s likely to be a huge demand on services throughout primary care.

Given in two doses, the second coming 21 days after the first, through a subcutaneous injection in the shoulder, the life-saving vaccination will be rolled out in a phased programme. Health trusts are continuing to work on a plan to utilise hospital hubs, vaccination centres, pharmacies and, of course, general practice, to ensure maximum coverage of the population. At present, supplies of the vaccination are limited, and the focus is on care homes. The Department of Health and Social Care is beginning to request that staff book into vaccination clinics, while GPs are expected to be asked to start vaccinating care home residents. Any appointments not used by this group are likely to be used for healthcare workers deemed to be at the highest risk of serious illness from COVID-19.

Our breakdown of the COVID-19 vaccination ES is an essential briefing for anyone in general practice, particularly when facing the complex logistical challenge of transporting the vaccination. Unlike the other vaccines, it needs to be stored at -70˚C before being thawed out and can only be moved four times within that cold chain ahead of use.

It’s likely that following this story in the national media, your patients may see this as a green light to get in touch with you to find out when they can book in for their vaccination. To try and help you free up your phone lines and communicate to your patient base, we’ve compiled some useful messages for texts, social media and your practice website here [PLUS]

We’d love to hear about your experiences. Do you have supplies of the vaccination yet? And how are you preparing? Comment below or in the forum.