Coronavirus: Vaccination

(asked on 28th January 2021) - View Source

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress he has made on rolling out vaccinations 24 hours a day, 7 days a week; and if he will implement more late night and early morning vaccination services, with subsidies for overtime and late shifts as required.


Answered by
Nadhim Zahawi Portrait
Nadhim Zahawi
This question was answered on 26th April 2021

Currently there are no plans to open vaccination sites 24 hours a day. However, we are keeping this under review based on patient and staff feedback.

We previously piloted an extended hours service in community pharmacy led vaccination sites in key locations in England, operating an extended hours service from 5am to 8am and 8pm to 1am. This was a very small pilot with limited data and for a very short period of time. However, it is recommended that regional teams encourage pharmacy local vaccination sites to offer more flexible hours/appointment schedules outside of the 8am to 8pm period if a trial shows there is local demand. Under current contractual terms, this would be opt-in for the contractor but may be attractive due to potentially minimising impact on provision of other pharmaceutical services.

NHS England and NHS Improvement will continue to test extended opening hours, including 24-hour provision.

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