The NHS will pay GPs an additional £10 for every Covid vaccination they deliver to someone who is housebound as part of the drive to protect the most vulnerable people as swiftly as possible.
The extra payment comes as Vaccine Centres including Elland Road football ground, home to Premier League side Leeds, prepare to open their doors as the NHS Vaccination programme, the biggest in health service history, continues to accelerate this week.
The openings will mean there are more than 100 of the large-scale centres offering the life-saving jab, along with more than local 1,000 GP services, almost 200 run by High Street pharmacy services and over 250 hospital hubs.
Other sites due to come online this week include Chesterton Indoor Bowls Club, Cambridge, East of England Showground, Peterborough, and Watford Town hall.
People aged 70 and over can arrange to be jabbed at a Vaccine Centre or pharmacy service or wait to be contacted by their local GP service or hospital.
GPs are also visiting those who cannot leave home to ensure that they are also protected.
They will receive an additional £10 on top of the standard vaccination fee for all every housebound person they vaccinate.
Some GP services working in towns and cities have been vaccinating more than 100 people with conditions such as dementia, each day.
GPs and healthcare teams in rural areas have been driving through heavy snow to protect housebound people in rural areas.
The NHS vaccination programme, the biggest in health service history, and has seen more than 10 million people jabbed in England in a matter of weeks.
This means that the NHS is on track to offer all those in the top four priority groups, decided by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, a jab by the middle of this month.
Dr Nikki Kanani, GP and NHS medical director for primary care, said: “Tremendous efforts have been made by GPs across the country to ensure we vaccinate those people who are in the priority cohorts as determined by the JCVI.
“Since the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine was approved for use and we began administering it on 4 January when Brian Pinker became the first person to receive the jab, my colleagues across the country have been prioritising the vaccination programme roll out which is our biggest chance of beating this virus.
“Please remember the NHS will be in touch with you when it’s your turn to be vaccinated.”
The £10 per visit additional funding recognises the extra staff time and complexity of vaccinating the housebound.
