BORIS Johnson will hold a Downing Street press conference later today as he unveils a new Army-led distribution plan for the UK’s Covid vaccines.
The roll-out, drawn up by top military battlefield planners, will see a dramatic hike in Brits receiving the jab in the coming weeks.
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Boris Johnson is set to hold a Downing Street press conference tonightCredit: AFP
MoD top brass have been ordered to come up with plans for even distribution of the jab for all those that need it within the PM’s target of vaccinating the most vulnerable by mid-February.
Military will be used across the country to help distribute the jabs to help meet the PM’s ambitious target to vaccinate 13 million Brits by mid-February.
Government insiders insisted that the deployment was military planners rather than troops at this stage.
Boris will be flanked by a senior military figure involved in the vital plans tonight, as well as NHS England chief Sir Simon Stevens.
A senior government source said: “The Prime Minister is approaching the vaccination roll-out as a military operation and that’s what you’ll see at tomorrow’s press conference.”
Last week Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said the military have “plans for up to 250 teams of mobile, medically trained personnel who could go out and administer the vaccine around the country.”
And he vowed that could deliver “over 100-thousand a day if that is requested by the NHS…and we’re planning to even grow that if possible.”
Seven vaccination hubs will launch across the UK from next week
It comes as seven huge vaccination centres are due to open next week in London, Newcastle, Manchester, Birmingham, Bristol, Surrey and Hertfordshire.
Drive-through vaccination centres will also be made available in the car parks of some Morrisons supermarkets from Monday.
Meanwhile, GPs will be told to prioritise Covid vaccinations over other treatments.
The PM has set a target of vaccinating up to 13 million of the most vulnerable Brits by the middle of February in a bid to ease the draconian lockdown restrictions.
It came as Covid deaths have soared to more than 1,000 a day for the first time since April as a tough March-style lockdown was voted through Parliament yesterday.
It is hoped 13m Brits in the top four categories will be vaccinated by mid-February
The NHS needs to reach two million people a week to reach the PM’s goal, but only 300,000 are currently being given out at the moment.
So far, more than 1.3 million people have been vaccinated across the UK, including around a quarter of all over 80s.
