Can Boris hit his vaccine target?

The government has failed to meet so many Covid-related targets so far that many will be extremely sceptical of the Prime Minister’s pledge on Monday evening to get the over-70s, front-line care workers and vulnerable people of all ages vaccinated by the middle of February. That is around 13 million first doses which will have to be delivered over the next six weeks – compared with just over a million which have been administered since the Pfizer vaccination programme began four weeks ago. We now have the AstraZeneca vaccine as well as the Pfizer one, but can the NHS really increase the rate of vaccination tenfold, as would be necessary to meet the PM’s target?

There ought not to be a problem with the vaccination process itself. The Pfizer jab has been given at three minute intervals – or 20 an hour. Multiply that by the 7000 or so GPs’ surgeries in England and we ought easily to be able to vaccinate a million people a day, allowing Boris Johnson’s target groups to be inoculated before the end of next week.