Covid vaccine: PM accused of ‘shunning an army of trained pharmacists’

Boris Johnson indicated that, whilst 200 pharmacies are involved at present, this will “ramp up” and that local chemists will ultimately be “vital” in getting the jobs out to hard-to-reach members of the public.

It comes as the News Letter continues to press home the message of its SHOT IN THE ARM campaign – that the Province’s 550-or-so pharmacy outlets are very well-placed to help in the mass vaccination efforts, as opposed to leaving it to centralised regional hubs.

Labour MP Karl Turner, appearing via videolink, said that the Yorkshire Post had recently highlighted that 11,000 pharmacies nationwide “stand ready, willing, and able” to help dole out Covid vaccines.

“Yet his government have seemingly shunned an army of fully trained, experienced and registered technicians,” he told MPs.

Almost shouting at the Prime Minister, an extremely animated Mr Turner concluded: “Will the Prime Minister now take control and fully mobilise the skills and expertise of community pharmacies and get Britain vaccinated?”

Mr Johnson responded by saying there were 9,000 pharmacies nationwide (not 11,000), and that they do “an amazing job”.

“What we want to ensure is that we get doses to the places where they’re going to be distributed most effectively, the fastest,” he said.

“I’m sure the honourable gentleman wouldn’t want to see doses distributed to places where they might not all be used in the course of the day.

“We need at this stage to avoid any wastage at all.

“And that’s why we are concentrating, as I say Mr Speaker, on the 233 hospitals, 50 mass vaccination sites, 200 pharmacies already Mr Speaker – and we will ramp that up.

“It will be particularly important as we come into the phases where we need to reach people who are harder to reach in local communities, and there – as he says – local pharmacies will play a vital role.”

More from this reporter:

Click here: Ex-IRA bomber was on broadcast board when £44k given to McGuinness docClick here: Serious winter flu cases virtually wiped out in Northern Ireland

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this story on our website. While I have your attention, I also have an important request to make of you.

With the coronavirus lockdown having a major impact on many of our advertisers — and consequently the revenue we receive — we are more reliant than ever on you taking out a digital subscription.

Subscribe to newsletter.co.uk and enjoy unlimited access to the best Northern Ireland and UK news and information online and on our app. With a digital subscription, you can read more than 5 articles, see fewer ads, enjoy faster load times, and get access to exclusive newsletters and content.

Visit https://www.newsletter.co.uk/subscriptions now to sign up.

Our journalism costs money and we rely on advertising, print and digital revenues to help to support them. By supporting us, we are able to support you in providing trusted, fact-checked content for this website.

Alistair Bushe

Editor