GP confirms 'not a drop of Covid vaccine' going to waste in Sheffield - this is why

The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine must be stored at -70C, once delivered it can be kept for up to five days in a fridge, and once out of the fridge it needs to be used within six hours, meaning it could easily go to waste if not enough appointments are booked or patients fail to show up.

Thousands of doses have reportedly ended up in the trash in America but Sheffield GP Dr Ollie Hart ensures that is not the case here.

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He said that GP-run vaccination centres across the city have been making sure there are people on standby to receive the vaccine should anyone fail to make their appointment.

"There is a short time window with the Pfizer vaccine, which could present a problem of wastage,” he said.

”But we’re very careful to have a reserve list so if there are people who are unable to make their appointment for whatever reason that dose can go to somebody else rather than in the bin.

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"The most important thing for us is getting the vaccine into the people who need it most so we’re not just giving any leftover doses away to the man walking down the street.

"We have reserve lists and occasionally we give it to other front line staff like care home staff, hospital employees and social care workers who haven’t yet had a dose.

"I can say with confidence that Sheffield won’t waste a drop of vaccine.”

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Dr Hart also reassured people who may be worried after Germany decided not to approve the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine for use on over-65s as it deemed there had been insufficient testing on that age group.

"There have been fewer older people involved in the studies for the AstraZeneca study so far,” he said.

"But our knowledge of how the vaccine works and other studies of very similar vaccines give a very strong indication that it will be effective on older people.

"I’m not worried and I don’t think anybody should be. If my mum, who’s 76, gets the AstraZeneca vaccine nest week I would be very happy.”