Recommendation 19

Each potential vaccine will require different plans for deploying it to the public because each vaccine has different characteristics. This includes the temperature vaccines need to be stored at, their shelf-life once open, and any preparatory work needed before they are administered.53 The Pfizer Inc and BioNTech SE vaccine, for example, must be stored at minus 70°c. In comparison, the vaccine developed by the Astra-Zeneca Ltd—University of Oxford partnership can be stored at between 2°c and minus 8°c. The former Chair of the Taskforce confirmed that the Taskforce considered the logistics needed to administer a vaccine as part of determining which vaccines to buy, but that its overriding concern had been whether the vaccine itself would work.54 PHE acknowledged that delivering the Pfizer vaccine was “the most tricky” but was confident that its previous experience 47 C&AG’s Report, para 1. 48 Department of Health and Social Care, Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation: Advice on priority groups for COVID-19 vaccination, 30 December 2020, updated 6 January 2021 49 PFV0004 – Written Evidence submitted by Ms Richella Logan on behalf of Hugh Whittall, Director of Nuffield Council on Bioethics, 50 PFV0001 – Written Evidence submitted by Karl Simpson, Director JKS Bioscience Limited 51 Q 7 52 Qq 9–10 53 C&AG’s Report para 2.2, 4.4–4.7 54 Q 65 16 COVID-19: Planning for a vaccine Part 1 of delivering vaccinations programmes meant it had the skills and expertise it needed to deal with each vaccine.55 We asked about anecdotal reports of teething problems with the roll-out of the vaccines, including double vaccines appearing at GP practices, or people expecting one type of vaccine and receiving another. NHSE&I told us that it investigated any mistakes to work out what had happened and how to ensure they were not repeated. It emphasised, however, that 97.3% of the vaccine deliveries, and 98.15% of all deliveries related to the vaccine programme, had been on time and in