Which hospitals in England will be giving the Covid vaccine?

Seven hospitals in London will administer the Pfizer vaccine as the groundbreaking coronavirus jab is rolled out.

Starting on Tuesday, the NHS is carrying out one of the biggest vaccination schemes in British history leading on a national effort to protect the British population from Covid-19 infection.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock said 800,000 doses of the jab would arrive this week, with millions more following in the coming weeks.

Across London hospitals will be designated as vaccine hubs to start inoculating frontline staff and vulnerable patients.

The vaccine hubs announced in London include; Kings College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, Princess Royal University Hospital, St George’s University Hospitals NHS FT, Croydon University Hospital NHS Trust, Guys & St Thomas NHS Trust, Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust and the University College Hospitals Trust.

There will be fifty hospitals in total to roll out the coronavirus inoculation with 13 in the Midlands, eight in the North West, South East and South West, and only one in each of the Yorkshire and North East regions.

GP practices will then operate local vaccination centres as more vaccine becomes available and, if regulators give approval for a safe way of splitting packs, care homes will receive stocks.

The UK has ordered 40 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine, enough to vaccinate 20 million people with two doses, given 21 days apart.

The Army held a trial run at one of the first mass vaccination sites where tens of thousands of patients will be immunised after NHS chief executive Sir Simon Stevens warned the logistics will be 'complicated'.

The drill, code-named Exercise Panacea, took place at Ashton Gate football and rugby stadium in Bristol.

In the exercise, 30 staff and volunteers were looped through the building pretending to be different types of patients, from one suffering an adverse reaction to one with symptoms or one who won't get the jab.

Other venues being prepared to be used as regional hubs include the Nightingale Hospital at London's ExCeL Centre, Leicester Racecourse and Manchester Tennis and Football Centre, the Daily Mail reported.

Will my local hospital contact me for a vaccine?

Sir Simon Stevens, chief executive of the NHS in England, set out more details last week about the rollout of the newly-approved vaccine.

Sir Simon said the first people to receive the jab from 50 hospital hubs next week would be the over-80s, care home staff and others identified by the JCVI who may already have a hospital appointment.

As more vaccine becomes available, possibly in the new year, this will be extended out to the other risk groups.

The vaccine will also then be rolled out to groups of GP practices operating local vaccination centres, with more GP-led clinics opening up as more vaccine becomes available.

When even more vaccine becomes available, the NHS will be able to “switch on” mass vaccination centres..

The bulk of the programme for the at-risk population is likely to take place between January and April.

Sir Simon stressed that the NHS would contact people when it was ready to vaccinate them.

What’s been said about the Pfizer vaccine?

Dr Frank Atherton, chief medical officer for Wales, said the issues in transporting the Pfizer vaccine meant people would have to travel to a central hub to receive their jab.

He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “At the moment, the idea is that people will come to get the vaccine.

“We are looking at ways in which we might be able to move the vaccine further down the supply chain and get it closer to people.

“That’s very much work in hand, but at the moment the plan is that we will use mass vaccination centres.”

Deputy chief medical officer Professor Jonathan Van-Tam said it’s too early to say when the vaccine will enable lockdown restrictions to be eased.

“If we can get to the point where the NHS is managing in a much more normal way than at present, then that gives politicians the option to think about what can be done next to make life more normal for us,” he told BBC Breakfast.

“If we are confident that these vaccines not only take out the illness but take out the asymptomatic infections sufficiently to stop people spreading the virus when they don’t know they have got it, that becomes a big game-changer and a big win."

Professor Van-Tam, known as PVT, revealed his mother calls him “Jonny”, and said he has told her she must get the vaccine.

He added: “I genuinely have said to my 78-year-old mum, who’s probably listening now – ‘Mum, you must have this vaccine, or any of the vaccines that the MHRA approves as soon as they are available. This is really important, because you are so at risk’.

“So that’s a kind of personal piece if you like. I’m very confident in the assessments the MHRA makes.”

Which hospitals have been designated as vaccine hubs?

• Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

• Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust

• Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

• Chesterfield Royal Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

• Countess of Chester Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

• Croydon University Hospital NHS Trust

• Dartford & Gravesham NHS Trust

• Dorset County Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

• East and North Hertfordshire NHS Trust

• East Kent Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

• East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust (Colchester Hospital)

• Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust

• Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

• Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

• Guys & St Thomas NHS Trust

• James Paget University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

• Kings College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

• Kings College Hospital - Princess Royal University Hospital

• Lancashire Teaching Hospital Trust

• Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

• Leicester Partnership NHS Trust

• Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

• Medway NHS Foundation Trust

• Mid and South Essex Hospitals Trust

• Milton Keynes University Hospital

• Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital

• Northampton General Hospital NHS Trust

• North Bristol NHS Foundation Trust

• North West Anglia Foundation Trust

• Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust

• Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust

• Portsmouth Hospital University Trust

• Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust

• Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust

• Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust

• Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

• Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

• Shrewsbury and Telford NHS Trust

• Stockport NHS Foundation Trust

• St George’s University Hospitals NHS FT

• The Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

• University College Hospitals Trust

• University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust

• University Hospital Coventry & Warwickshire

• University Hospitals Derby Burton NHS FT

• University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust

• University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust

• United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust

• Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust

• West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust

• Wirral University Teaching Hospital

• Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust

• Yeovil District Hospital NHS Foundation Trust