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The National Health Service (NHS) hospitals are gearing up for what the UK government is describing as the biggest immunization program in the history. The first doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine against the COVID-19 has arrived at secure locations in the country from neighbouring countries in the continent over the weekend.

Among the first to get the vaccine will be front line health care staff, citizens over the age of 80 and are home workers as approved by UK’s independent regulators.The Medicines and Health care products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has declared the claims to offer up to 95 per cent protection for  all citizens and stated that the vaccine will ensure safety from the pandemic.

UK Health secretary Matt Hancock asserts that the beginning of the vaccination will embark history not only in the UK but globally and urges everyone to play their part to suppress this virus, following social distancing and local restrictions to protect NHS while they carry out the heavy job. The government is taking high precaution towards ensuring that the delegated members for the vaccination are vaccinated as soon as possible as they are the groups who are prone to the highest risk of death from the deadly virus.

More hospitals in the UK will start vaccinating over the coming weeks and months as the programme takes steady pace. Citizens are calling it the “life-saving-jab”.

Some media reports indicate that the Queen Elizabeth II and her 99 year old husband Prince Philip are likely to be among the group.

In spite of the huge complexities following the vaccination process, hospitals will kick start phase one of the campaign vaccination in dire need of safety and wellness for the country.

The vaccination centers will be held in sporting venues and conference centers to withhold large crowds who will attend to take the vaccination.

Although a vaccine is typically delivered by a simple injection in the shoulder, the Pfizer is slightly complex and there is a difficult logistical challenge towards giving it to the person. The vaccine will need to be stored at -70 degree celcius and can only be moved four times within that cold chain before being used again. Defrosting the vaccine itself can take multiple hours and there is also added additional time which is required in preparing the vaccine for administering.

There are tracking devices on all the packages which hold the vaccine and a predicted 800,000 doses are expected to be available to the citizens. The government has ordered a total of 400 million doses enough to vaccinate 20 million people.

The recorded deaths caused by the pandemic were a were 397 taking the country’s death toll to 61,014.

By Meena Atmakuri