First Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccines to be administered in West Sussex today
A Sussex health trust's among the first in the UK to give the jab
Patients in Sussex will be among the first in England to get the Oxford - AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine from Monday (January 4th).
Some 530,000 doses of the treatment will be available for roll-out at six NHS trusts around England.
One of those is the Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs the Princess Royal Hospital in Haywards Heath and the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton.
Tens of millions of further doses will be shipped out from later this week to more than 700 community vaccination sites around England.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock said:
“I am delighted that today we are rolling out the Oxford vaccine - a testament to British science.
"This is a pivotal moment in our fight against this awful virus and I hope it provides renewed hope to everybody that the end of this pandemic is in sight.
“Through its vaccine delivery plan the NHS is doing everything it can to vaccinate those most at risk as quickly as possible and we will rapidly accelerate our vaccination programme.
“While the most vulnerable are immunised, I urge everybody to continue following the restrictions so we can keep cases down and protect our loved ones.”
Dr George Findlay, who is chief medical officer and deputy chief executive for both BSUH and the Western Sussex Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said the vaccination programme gives NHS staff "more confidence" coming into work:
"We're aiming to vaccinate the most vulnerable people first, that includes our staff, other NHS staff and care home staff as well, so we've been calling them to notify them of a vaccine being available and to book them into slots.
"We've got quite a lot of experience doing this as we started vaccination a few weeks ago in our other hospital in Brighton (the Royal Sussex County Hospital), so we're well-practised in inviting those individuals in for vaccinations and making sure that all the slots are used."
Dr Findlay said the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine, which can be kept at normal fridge temperature, is "much easier" to administer when compared with the jab from Pfizer and BioNTech, which needs cold storage of around minus 70C.
More than a million people have already received the first of two jabs of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine.
Second doses of either vaccine will now take place within 12 weeks rather than the 21 days that was initially planned with the Pfizer/BioNTech jab, following a change in guidance which aims to accelerate immunisation.
Speaking to Sky News, Dr Findlay said that the BSUH trust would take a little time to review the guidance before pushing ahead with the revised timetable:
"We think that there may be some groups which are extremely vulnerable that we would want to vaccinate in a slightly shorter time period but we recognise that extension to 12 weeks allows us to get the initial vaccine to more people and protect larger parts of the community."
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