New vaccination programmes could stall because of staffing shortages and lack of resources in general practices, GP organisations have warned.

The UK yesterday approved a new bivalent vaccine for COVID – expected to lead to a new drive to vaccinate large numbers of people with boosters against the virus. Wales became the first country to announce that the new vaccine would be used in its booster drive this winter.

In London practices have raised further concerns about being asked to deliver a polio vaccination drive. The British Medical Association said practices would receive 20% less in income for vaccination this year. They are being paid at £10.20 a shot rather than the £12.58 they received last year. Supplements for delivering programmes in care homes have also been cut.

Dr Preeti Shukla, the BMA’s GP clinical and prescribing policy lead, said: “However, with the current well-documented pressures on GP practices and the reduction in the funding for delivery of these vaccines, we have serious concerns about the rollout. Payment to GPs for delivery of vaccines has dropped 20% since last year’s rollout while the costs for GP practices have only rocketed in the meantime. This vaccine will require freezing and refrigerating, an ever more expensive operation as energy costs rise. The new Moderna vaccine only strengthens the case for returning payments to last year’s level rather than trying to deliver a booster programme on the cheap. GP practices, while glad to hear of a new vaccine to add to their arsenal, will nevertheless be wondering if the numbers add up as they face a difficult autumn and winter.”

The Londonwide Local Medical Committee has issued a warning to practices in the capital about the plans for widescale polio vaccination following repeated evidence of the virus appearing in waste samples.

Analysis by chief executive Dr Michelle Drage suggests practices would need 180 nurses to deliver the first round of vaccines to 160,000 children over six weeks. Delivering more than 900,000 appointments would mean 600 nurses working full time for ten weeks. She said there were insufficient qualified nurses available.

Writing to practices, she said: “Currently London general practice is providing record numbers of appointments as teams who are already under extreme strain continue to try to offer safe access for patients and handle the impact of the backlog of care, while in the midst of a workforce crisis. More than a decade of under-resourcing needs to be addressed if there is to be capacity for general practice to take on such additional large scale campaigns, against such tight deadlines, without having an impact on the delivery of the Government’s own access and backlog priorities.”

Speaking to The Independent today, she added: “With the current workforce crisis, there are just not enough GPs and practice nurses to do the day job. Prioritising urgent public health vaccinations means something will have to give between routine appointments and vaccinating several million Londoners at pace.”