COVID-19: the light at the end of the tunnel

AstraZeneca and Oxford University have reported promising results from their COVID-19 vaccine trials and with regulatory approval imminent for the Pfizer and Moderna versions, it seems likely that we will have three potential vaccines available in the very near future - This probably means a large scale roll-out by Spring 2021.

It’s been reported that the UK has pre-ordered 40m doses of the Pfizer vaccine, 100m doses of the Oxford University vaccine and 5m doses of the Moderna vaccine, so the UK Government is covering all its bases.

Of course, once the vaccines have received approval, the next step will be to ensure that a strong infrastructure is in place for their administration to the general public. High-risk groups (including the elderly and those with existing respiratory illnesses) will be prioritised, followed by the rest of the population as soon as availability permits.

Who will be administering the vaccines?

Since we’re only in the early stages of identifying potential candidates for successful vaccines, most health authorities and trusts are yet to finalise procedures regarding how - and by whom - this wide-scale vaccination programme will take place.

The process will be logistically complicated, requiring:

• Speedy recruitment of a vast bank of staff
• Associated training and credential checking
• Implementation of robust systems to ensure that vaccination stock levels are rigorously monitored and record-keeping is accurate, thorough and in line with regulations
• Second doses are administered within the appropriate time-frame
• The maximum number of people are vaccinated in the shortest possible time

It’s important to bear in mind that there is some skepticism among the general public about vaccination, so clinicians involved in the programme must be professional, well-informed and capable of providing reassurance when required.

As a result of pressures caused by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, it’s extremely unlikely that staffing requirements for the vaccination programme will be met from within existing NHS services. The NHS will need to augment its staff banks and contract with private providers in order to meet vaccination targets. Before an NHS trust makes a decision about who should provide this crucial and life-saving service, they should consider the following:

Back in March, when the first wave of COVID-19 hit, we partnered with the NHS to launch ‘Team GP vs Covid’, a massive drive to recruit practising and retired GPs as additional man-power to support NHS staff during the crisis. In just a few weeks, we on-boarded over 3,000 GPs to what became the ‘Covid Clinical Assessment Service’.

The service was successfully launched at a critical time, when the need to augment the numbers of NHS staff had never been more pressing. Until now.

How can Credentially help?

We are experts in the hiring, on-boarding and compliance of healthcare staff and can help you save millions of hours in wasted clinical time by automating signup, credentialing, and compliance. With our software you can:

• ‍Reduce the onboarding of clinical and medical professionals from 128 days to just 12 days*.
• Recruit more and a higher quality of staff to deliver vaccinations
• Onboard team members efficiently and quickly
• Hold evidence that they’re fit to practice and fully compliant

Our software enables you to accelerate recruitment and on-boarding processes, and scale rapidly in order to meet the needs of the COVID-19 vaccination roll-out. Why are we so sure that we can achieve this? Because we’ve done it before, and can do it again.

If you’d like to have a conversation about what Credentially can do to help meet this next challenge, then please get in touch.