Doctors In England To Provide Less Care During COVID-19 Booster Drive

MOSCOW: The Department of Health and Social Care of the United Kingdom will allow general practitioners in England to lessen their workload with patients until April so they can participate in administering COVID-19 vaccine booster shots amid the increase in COVID-19 cases, the Guardian reported on Friday.

According to the media, general practitioners in England will now focus less on monitoring people with health conditions and the elderly, as well as performing little surgery.

Secretary of State for Health and Social Care Sajid Javid and representatives of the National Health Service of England made this decision so that general practitioners can join in the administration of COVID-19 vaccine booster shots, the Guardian said.

The media also quoted a letter from the health service saying that the period between COVID-19 vaccine doses will be reduced to three months until December 13. The document also reportedly said that priority would be given to vaccination of the elderly and high-risk patients.

The total number of registered COVID-19 cases in the United Kingdom for the entire period of the pandemic to date is estimated to be about 10.3 million, with 145,424 deaths, with the daily increase on the rise in recent weeks. Over 50,584 new COVID-19 cases and 143 new deaths have been recorded in the past 24 hours alone.