Updates - -
Temporary GP contract changes to support COVID-19 vaccination programme
This letter sets out further details of the actions we are taking to support GPs, primary care networks (PCNs) and their teams to progress this expansion of the vaccination programme.
Update: Vaccination as a condition of deployment (VCOD) for all healthcare workers
Guidance for employers.
Expansion of vaccine programme in response to the emergence of the Omicron variant: next steps for deployment
On Monday the government accepted updated advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) following the emergence of the Omicron variant.
Support for NHS staff with needle phobias
Needle phobia is very common, affecting at least one in 10 people, and is nothing to be ashamed of. For many people, the fear of needles is linked to feeling faint. When the fear is triggered (e.g. seeing blood or a needle), heart rate & blood pressure increase, but then rapidly drop.
Updated COVID-19 Clinical Risk Assessment Tool
The latest version of the Oxford University’s QCovid® model in now available. This version has been refined using more recent data and now considers a patient’s vaccination status and national infection levels.
COVID-19 boosters in NHS COVID Pass
Patients in England are now able to use the NHS COVID Pass to demonstrate proof of their booster vaccination for international travel. Booster vaccination records can be accessed within the NHS App and online, by searching ‘NHS COVID Pass’ on the NHS website.
Vaccination of under-18s deferral period extended for those recovering from COVID-19
Previously the Green Book advised that vaccination should be deferred until clinical recovery from COVID-19 infection to around four weeks after onset of symptoms or four weeks from the first confirmed positive specimen in those who are asymptomatic.
COVID-19 vaccination programme: inclusion of cohort 10 (40-49 year olds) in the booster programme and second dose vaccination for remaining 16 to 17 year olds
The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) has published on 15 November advice on boosters for cohort 10 (those aged 40-49 years old) and second doses for 16 to 17 year olds not in an at-risk group.
JCVI announcement on COVID-19 booster vaccines for those aged 40 to 49 and second doses for 16 to 17 year olds
Read the system letter from NHS England and Improvement and the JCVI announcement
Vaccination as a condition of deployment (VCOD) for all healthcare workers
Earlier this week the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) announced that individuals undertaking CQC regulated activities in England must be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by no later than 1 April 2022, regardless of their employer.
Continuing to identify and contact immunosuppressed people for their third primary dose
There remains some public misunderstanding about the difference between third primary doses – for which some severely immunosuppressed people are eligible – and boosters, which take place from six months after the primary course of two or three doses
DHSC operational guidance on the COVID-19 vaccine medical exemptions process
The decision on whether an applicant is eligible or not is recorded on the Summary Care Record application (SCRa).