British Army could be drafted in to deliver ‘moonshot’ vaccination drive at empty NHS Nightingales

The Army could be drafted in to deliver a ‘moonshot’ vaccination drive at empty NHS Nightingale hospital sites, it has emerged.

Officials believe soldiers are needed to dish out the tens of millions of jabs to the public when a vaccine is ready.

Troops could be deployed to the makeshift hospitals – which have been empty since the first Covid wave ended – and other public buildings.

Health service bosses have been tasked with creating these vaccination plans by the end of next month in case a vaccine is ready in the winter.

It comes as the government’s screening advisers said they have not been consulted over Boris Johnson’s ambitious Operation Moonshot.

The Prime Minister is hoping to carry out ten million tests a day by early next year including DIY pregnancy-style kits which turn around results in 15 minutes.

Sources told the i GPs and chemists do not have the resources to hand out the huge number of vaccinations that will be needed to tackle the coronavirus.

But it is believed the NHS would thrash out a Military Assistance to Civil Authorities (MACA) to the British Army to get help.

Soldiers would also be needed to assist with moving vaccines across the country, as well as refrigerating and storing them an potentially defending them from sabotage.

And army medics could also work with NHS nurses to administer the jabs, which is a harder task than the current Covid-19 swab test.

It would not be the first cooperating between the military and NHS during this crisis as the Army was deployed for the setting up of the NHS Nightingale sites in March.

There are plans being considered for a ‘dry run’ before a vaccine is found, where soldiers would assist with the dosing out  of the annual flu vaccine.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock said this year the jab will be given to people over the age of 50, on top of the usual over 65-year-olds.

An Ministry of Defence source said a MACA had not been submitted, but they would ‘lean into any MACA request we do get and support things like roll-out and logistics’.

They added that the ‘Covid war is not over’.

Meanwhile the government’s screening advisers have revealed they have not been consulted over Operation Moonshot.

Outraged public health experts slammed the news as ‘incomprehensible’ as the PM looks to test the entire population for the coronavirus.

The National Screening Committee, which helps government ministers and the NHS on population screening, is yet to be approached about the £100billion plans.

The group is made up of 23 doctors, academics and public health representatives and assists with mass screening for diseases such as cancers and chlamydia.

The committee members work closely with the chief medical officers for each of the four powers that make up the UK.

Prof Bob Steele, who is its chairman, confirmed to the Guardian: ‘The NSC has not been involved with this in any way.’

The news was branded ‘incomprehensible’ by director of the Newcastle University Centre for Excellence in Regulatory Science Dr Allyson Pollock.

She told the newspaper: ‘Mass testing is screening and we have a huge amount of experts in this country who run design and run research.

‘This is another example of how public health has been marginalised. Why has Matt Hancock not put the committee in charge of scrutinising all these proposals?’

The Prime Minister is hoping to carry out ten million tests a day by early next year including DIY pregnancy-style kits which turn around results in 15 minutes.

He believes the strategy, costing up to £100billion, would enable the UK to return to normal in the absence of a vaccine and go to work presuming they have a negative.

But scientists claimed the tests were potentially dangerous and misleading because they are prone to telling patients they are in the clear when it is a ‘false negative.’

Equally the results may wrongly tell someone they are infected, prompting them to quarantine needlessly along with all their close contacts, a ‘false positive.’

At the same time, the pregnancy-style tests that the strategy is likely to depend on have not even been approved by health regulatory bodies yet.

Meanwhile the Government’s labs are currently struggling to process just 170,000 tests a day – far below the level needed to make the plan viable.

Mr Hancock was on Wednesday jeered in the Commons when he tried to claim the strategy would enable the country to get back to normal.

Opposition MPs were seen laughing as Mr Hancock attempted to explain how Operation Moonshot would enable theatres and sporting venues to open up.

Even Tory MPs called for the Government to get a grip of the issue amid complaints over the current testing shortages.

One complained that people were having to ‘criss-cross the country and travelling for many hours’ to secure a test.

Moonshot – first put forward by Mr Johnson during Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday – aims to carry out up to ten million tests a day, up from 170,000.

Britons would be encouraged to take tests at home before going into offices, theatres and sporting events to ensure they were negative and could safely mingle with others.

Some of the tests which are swab or saliva-based are already being piloted on the NHS and in Hampshire and Southampton, and can turn around results in between 20 to 90 minutes.

But the Prime Minister also has his eye on a 15-minute home-based pregnancy-style test, which has not yet been approved by medical regulators.

A leaked document published by the British Medical Journal on Wednesday claimed the Government was hoping to carry out ten million tests by early next year at a cost of £100 billion.

Department of Health and Social Care officials said the NSC was not involved in Moonshot because it was about testing, not screening.

But it flies in the face of the operation’s documents, which say: ‘It will fast become possible to extend mass routine screening to groups at moderate risk.’