THE Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust has been chosen to dish out Covid-19 vaccinations.

The trust oversees community hospitals in Abingdon, Bicester, Didcot, Wallingford, Wantage and Witney, in addition to mental health centres and clinics across the county.

A spokesperson for NHS England said that details of vaccine hubs had not yet been confirmed however.

The trust provides physical, mental health and social care with services delivered at community bases, hospitals, clinics and people’s homes.

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Just over 50 hospital hubs across the UK are set to roll out the vaccine from next week, with patients aged 80 and over, and health and care workers expected to be the first to be vaccinated.

After that, it is anticipated GP surgeries will operate as vaccination centres.

The Government has so far ordered 40 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine, which was 95 per cent effective in clinical trials.

Ten million doses are expected in the UK by the end of the year.

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As the vaccine has to be stored at -70c, the transport of it represents a huge logistical conundrum.

NHS chief executive Sir Simon Stevens said: “This is an important next step in our response to the coronavirus pandemic and hospitals will shortly kick off the first phase of the largest scale vaccination campaign in our country’s history.

“The NHS has a proven track record of delivering large scale vaccinations from the winter flu jab to BCG and, once the final hurdles are cleared and the vaccine arrives in England’s hospitals, health service staff will begin offering people this ground-breaking jab in a programme that will expand to cover the whole country in the coming months.”

While the Government has ordered 40 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine, it has also requested 100 million doses of Oxford’s AstraZeneca vaccine, which has an average efficacy of 70 per cent.

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The vaccine uses a harmless, weakened version of a common virus which causes a cold in chimpanzees, a technology already used technology to produce vaccines against a number of pathogens including flu, Zika and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS).

Another vaccine, from Moderna, had final results from its trials of a 94 per cent efficacy, and 100 per cent efficacy against severe Covid-19.

Meanwhile, a new vaccine, from Janssen, is being trialled at GP surgeries in West Oxfordshire.

An agreement has been made in principle for the Government to purchase 30 million doses of Janssen’s vaccine if it is safe and effective.

Volunteers are taking part in the study at the Windrush Medical Practice, Witney and the Eynsham Medical Group.