4 December 2020

Dear colleagues,

Today we published further details on the vital role of general practice in the COVID-19 vaccination programme.

It is crucial we start to bring online local services to enable priority patient cohorts to start accessing the vaccine. We are therefore giving the green light for primary care teams to get ready to start giving the COVID-19 vaccine in 10 days time.

This programme is one of the most important moments in the history of the NHS and there is no doubt that delivering the vaccine on this scale is a huge task, where GPs, nurses and primary care staff will be on the frontline delivering this to their communities.

We expect to stand up a number of designated local vaccination services (the first based on primary care network (PCN) groupings) to start administering the vaccinations in the week beginning the 14 December 2020. Further information on the next steps can be found in this letter.

We have also republished the Enhanced Service Specification for the programme with two small changes reflecting ongoing discussions with the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) and have published a template Collaboration Agreement which must be in place between collaborating practices in a PCN grouping before operations begin from the site. These documents have been agreed with the British Medical Association (BMA).  We would be grateful for your early sign up to the Enhanced Service.

Community pharmacies have until 4pm on Sunday 6 December 2020 to submit details of their nominated delivery site or sites.

This is a hugely exciting moment for primary care.  We recognise the scale and the complexity of the task ahead and we are grateful for your continued efforts.

Nikki and Ed