The first doses of the Covid-19 vaccine could be administered to over 80s in Salisbury before the new year, according to a GP.

Dr Helena McKeown, who is also chair of the representative body of the British Medical Association (BMA), says she doesn't know what day exactly the vaccine will be coming to the city but she expects it to be by the end of the year.

GP practices in more than 100 locations in the UK are to start administering the jab this afternoon (December 14).

Dr McKeown told the Journal: "I would expect some vaccines to be delivered to patients before the end of the year though the majority [of over 80s] are going to be called in January.

"I do expect from what's happening in the rest of England that Salisbury will get its first doses before the end of the year."

Dr McKeown, who used to practise in Salisbury but is now based in Dorset, explained that the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine will be delivered in batches of 975 per primary care network.

Due to the fact doses have to be stored at extremely low temperatures, once a GP surgery receives their batch, staff have three days to administer it to patients, starting with those over 80.

When patients come to get their jab they have to maintain social distancing and after the injection, they have to be observed for 15 minutes by a member of staff.

"It's a big task bearing in mind each vaccine has to be drawn up separately and every patient has to social distance and wait for 15 minutes," she said. 

"It's very difficult, I'm expecting practices to be open all day including on Saturday and Sunday." 

According to Dr McKeown, practices are given little notice of when the vaccine is coming, only days. However, everyone stands ready to administer it having already been trained, she says.

Asked whether GP surgeries will have to cancel their appointments to ensure the vaccine is rolled out within the three-day period, Dr McKeown said it's "possible".

"It depends on the locations that the vaccine is being delivered and whether practices have enough staff who are fit and healthy," she said.

Equally, whether patients will receive the jab at the practice itself or whether dedicated sites will be set up depends on size of the practice.

Patients are again being reminded to wait to be contacted by the NHS rather than calling or turning up at a GP practice.

The UK has ordered 40 million doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech jab, enough to vaccinate 20 million people, as people need to receive two doses.

The first tranche is made up of 800,000 doses, which means 400,000 people will be vaccinated to start with.