Efforts are under way in England to make sure that medical records reflect who received the soon-to-be-rolled-out Pfizer/BioNTech Coronavirus vaccine, England’s deputy chief medical officer said on Thursday.
Jonathan Van-Tam told the BBC that work was under way to link people’s medical records with their status of vaccination so that the government has a clear handle on who has had the vaccine.
“There are definite plans to make sure we absolutely know, and it is linked to health digital records, who has had the vaccine, who has had one dose or two doses, which vaccine they had and when they had it,’’ Van-Tam said.
A decision had, however, not been made yet on Coronavirus vaccine certificates for travel to other countries, Van-Tam said.
This comes after the executive of Australia’s Quantas airline said he believed proof of a COVID-19 vaccine would be a necessity for international travel.
On Wednesday, BioNTech announced its vaccine, created with U.S. drug company, Pfizer, had been approved by Britain’s Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) for emergency use.
Deliveries of the vaccine are expected in Britain on Thursday, with plans to start rolling them out to patients next week.
The National Health Service (NHS) on Wednesday said the vaccine would be rolled out first to hospital hubs in England, followed by general practitioner’s offices and care homes. (dpa/NAN)