Pharmacies in some parts of England will begin administering COVID-19 vaccinations to priority groups from this week, in a bid to bolster the UK’s mass vaccination rollout.
The six pharmacies that will offer the vaccines are located in Halifax, Macclesfield, Widnes, Guildford, Edgware and Telford.
Following the launch of vaccinations in the first six pharmacies, up to 70 additional pharmacies will start offering appointments from next week and 200 in total are set to start offering vaccinations within the next two weeks.
The news that some high street pharmacies will start offering COVID-19 vaccines to priority groups follows an announcement earlier this week that seven new NHS vaccination centres will also open this week.
“As the vaccination programme rolls out it’s eminently sensible to include more pharmacies where possible to increase the numbers of people who can get vaccinated.” said Sandra Gidley, president of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society.
“Local pharmacies are trusted by their communities and are often at the heart of deprived areas where we face some of the biggest health challenges of all,” she added.
The UK has already approved three COVID-19 vaccines: Pfizer/BioNTech’s mRNA-based vaccine, AstraZeneca(AZ)/Oxford University’s vaccine and most recently Moderna’s vaccine.
While people in the UK have already been receiving the Pfizer/BioNTech and AZ/Oxford vaccines, supplies of Moderna’s vaccine are not expected to be delivered until spring.
The UK government is aiming to vaccinate approximately 15 million people by mid-February, with priority to be given to people over the age of 70 years, healthcare workers and people who are shielding.
Vaccination is seen as a key tool in the fight against COVID-19, as cases in the UK continue to surge, as government figures on Thursday showed another 48,682 new infections had been reported.
Currently, over 2.6 million people in the UK have received the first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, according to the BBC.