Covid: No ‘clamour’ for 24-hour vaccinations, Downing Street says

Keir Starmer demands ‘round-the-clock’ programme of jabs

Downing Street has rebuffed Sir Keir Starmer’s call for 24-hour vaccinations against Covid-19, saying that there is no sign of any “clamour” for night-time appointments.

In a speech in London today, the Labour leader called for “a really round-the-clock vaccine programme, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, in every village and every town, in every high street and every GP surgery”.

Boris Johnson’s press secretary Allegra Stratton did not rule out late-night appointments for the jab, as the government steps up its drive to vaccinate 13m of the highest-priority individuals by the middle of February.

But she added: “If you go and have a chat with the NHS, they will say that when they are asking the people who are being offered vaccinations, they’re asking them when it would suit them, what time.

“If people come back and say they would like an appointment over 8pm then that is something they will consider.

“My understanding is at the moment there’s not a clamour for appointments late into the night or early in the morning.

“If it was the case, then it is something the NHS could well consider.

“They are doing their absolute utmost to get the jab into people’s arms as quickly as possible.”

Health secretary Matt Hancock later told a press conference at No 10: “We’ll do this if it's needed, absolutely. We'll do whatever it takes to get this vaccine rolled out as fast as possible."

But he added: "The thing is that if if both the person doing the vaccination and the person being vaccinated would both prefer for that to happen in the middle of the day, rather than the middle of the night, then that's probably when we should do it.

“But there are groups - night shifts, for instance, - where it might be the best approach. Our attitude on the vaccine rollout is is whatever it takes to do this as fast as safely possible."

NHS England medical director Stephen Powis added: “I'm sure for the vast majority of people they would prefer to have their vaccine during the day.

“And of course for the most efficient and the best use of our staff and volunteers, working through the day is the most efficient way of delivering the most vaccine.”

Boris Johnson today announced that more than 2m people have already had a coronavirus inoculation, with at least 2m more due to receive them weekly by the end of January.

Downing Street said the prime minister’s father, Stanley Johnson, appears to be among the early wave of individuals to get two coronavirus vaccines before a change in policy to extend the wait between the first and second jabs.

Ms Stratton said: “It’s not something I’ve spoken to Stanley Johnson about but way of explanation in the early days of the vaccination programme it was the case that GPs were doing two jabs, a first one followed a few weeks later by a second one.

“It appears that Stanley Johnson was one of those people who was in that first wave. It’s been true of a number of individuals around the country and Stanley Johnson appears to be one of them.”