The UK’s COVID vaccination programme wins rare praise from auditors today – amid concerns about how it will be continued.

Digital systems proved successful in coordinating the drive across multiple outlets while wastage of doses was less than anticipated at just 4%, the National Audit Office reports. Community health facilities ended up delivering many more vaccine doses than originally anticipated, the report reveals.

The auditors warn of burnout among staff running the service and question how the NHS will find surplus capacity to continue vaccinating. The government wants the over 75s and the most vulnerable patients to get a fourth dose of vaccine. The NAO ruled that the £8 billion programme had proved an “effective” use of public money, finding that practices and community pharmacies have ended up administering a much higher proportion of doses than originally planned. They have been responsible for 71% of doses up to the end of October last year compared with a planned 56%.

It states: “The vaccine rollout was the biggest and most complex vaccination programme in UK history. In line with its targets, NHS England and NHS Improvement had vaccinated two-thirds of adults by 19 July 2021.” Today’s report also highlights those groups with low vaccine uptake rates, including ethnic minorities, young adults and pregnant women.

NAO head Gareth Davies said: “The vaccine programme has been successful in getting early access to what were brand new COVID-19 vaccines, securing supply of them, and administering them to a large proportion of the population at unprecedented speed. The programme must now redouble its efforts to reach those who are not yet vaccinated while also considering what a more sustainable model will involve as it moves out of its emergency phase.”

The findings were welcomed by the Royal College of GPs, which called for investment in primary care to ensure the programme continues.

Vice-chair Dr Gary Howsam said: “GPs and their teams, working with colleagues across the health service, have pulled out all the stops to ensure as many people as possible are protected from Covid-19, and it’s good to see this being recognised by the National Audit Office (NAO) in today’s report. The vaccine rollout was the biggest and most complex vaccination programme in UK history. It also ran alongside two expanded flu vaccination programmes. Its success has in a large part been down to the experience, hard work and dedication of GP teams, delivering vaccinations at a local level, with the majority of vaccinations delivered in primary care.

“It’s a fantastic achievement that so many people have been vaccinated, with uptake exceeding initial planning assumptions – and this report does not take into account the booster programme, which has now seen more than 38m patients fully protected from the virus. It remains crucial that patients continue to get as much protection as possible so that we can move from a pandemic to an endemic Covid situation and GP teams will remain key to this effort. With that being the case, it is urgent that the Government delivers on its pledges of 6,000 more GPs and 26,000 more members of the wider practice team, so that general practice can continue to utilise its expertise at delivering vaccination programmes as well as delivering all the other care and services our patients rely on us for.”