Boris Johnson told members of Parliament that the government will provide vaccinations 24 hours a day to the public “as quickly as possible.”
Inaugural Labor Leader Sir Keir Starmer said to PMQ: “I welcome the news this morning about my testing of vaccination centers operating 24/7 – I expect there will be tremendous clamor for this.
“So, can the prime minister tell us when the 24/7 vaccination centers will be open to the public, because I understand they are not at this time, and when will they be deployed across the country?”
The Prime Minister replied, “I can tell (Sir Kiir) that we will go to 24/7 as quickly as possible and (Matt Hancock) will explain more about that in due course.”
“As he rightly says, for the time being, the limit is on supply.”
Vaccination Minister Nadim Al-Zahawi said that the National Health Service has set up a vaccine deployment infrastructure that can handle the volume provided by manufacturers.
Regarding restrictions on vaccine delivery, he told the House of Commons science and technology committee: “We have moved from the challenge of deploying a vaccine at minus 70 degrees Celsius.
“A second vaccine is coming, really only approved and then published on January 4, again it had to spend two days deploying the hospital before it started in primary care.
And so, day in and day out, what you’ll see is greater volumes coming out.
“The NHS plan has created a deployment infrastructure that can handle the volume manufacturers can deliver, and that’s the guarantee I can give you.”
Labor leader Sir Keir Starmer said he understood that the 24-hour pilot centers were not yet open to the public, but that there would be “tremendous clamor”.
Mr Hancock earlier wondered if there would be a round-the-clock vaccination request.
He said the NHS was “well prepared to do that,” but “most people want to get vaccinated by day, and so would most people who get vaccinations in the day, but there may be conditions that help.”
