dr chaand nagpaul chairs the british medical council. me he thought the pace of vaccinations needs to increase. it is taking too long because at the moment we have about 16,000 reports of nhs staff who are off work due to covid sickness, or being positive. we know that this is impacting on the ability of the nhs to serve patients. the bma hasjust done a survey that says that about half of doctors are saying that shortages of staff due to illness of their collea g u es staff due to illness of their colleagues is affecting their ability to treat patients effectively and adequately. so we have a problem as we speak and the only way to really address that is to make sure that all health and ca re to make sure that all health and care staff immediately are prioritised to be protected against this virus with vaccination so we are saying that all high—risk help and care staff should get the vaccine in the next few weeks and eve ryo ne vaccine in the next few weeks and everyone else by the end of january. when you are looking at the figures, tho

dr chaand nagpaul is a gp and the chair of the british medical association council.spread is this? this is not a widespread phenomenon. - how widespread is this? this is not a widespread phenomenon. in - how widespread is this? this is not | a widespread phenomenon. in most vaccination sites, not only are the staff working 12 hours a day at the end of the day many are staying behind precisely so that no vaccine is wasted. the difficulty here is that once the vaccine is taken out of the fridge, and the vial is made up, you cannot actually keep it overnight. therefore, by the end of the day, if some patients have not attended. remember, these sites are vaccinating hundreds, some in the excess of 1000 patients, if some do not attend you may find at the end of the day you've got some vaccines left over. if they aren't used they will be wasted. what our own site does at that point is to try and contact patients. the problem is, many are very old because we are targeting those over 80. they may not be able to attend at short notice even if they are on a back—up list. no va

dr chaand nagpaul is the group's chair.on and i do understand the rationale that's been put forward, but, at the same time, what we do need to be assured of is that people are properly protected because if the level of protection with the second dose is compromised by a longer delay, that, of course, will impact on the doctors that i represent because they are facing the virus at close quarters as they look after patients. they want to be assured of maximum protection because if they fall ill, they won't be there to look after patients. we do have about 50,000 nhs staff off work at the moment with covid or self—isolating, so there is a very serious issue about wanting to protect people so that they do not fall ill. let's speak now to paul hunter, professor of medicine at the university of east anglia's norwich medical school. the letter to chris pretty was a private letter about the bbc have seen it so we can confirm its existence. professor, thanks for talking to us this saturday on bbc news. you've heard what the bma has

joining me now to discuss this is dr chaand nagpaul, he's the council chair for the british medical councilre saying that they are hoping to get most of the front line vaccinations carried out by the middle of february. do you think that is a realistic target? we actually think it is taking too long because, at the moment, we have about 16,000 reports of nhs staff who are off work due to covid sickness or being positive. we know that this is impacting on the ability of the nhs to south patients. the bma have done a survey that says that about half of doctors are saying shortages of staff due to illness from their own colleagues is affecting their ability to treat patients effectively and adequately so we have a problem as we speak the only way to really address that is to make sure that all health and ca re to make sure that all health and care staff immediately are prioritised to be protected against this virus with vaccinations, so we are saying that all high risk health ca re are saying that all high risk health care staff should get the vaccine in the next two weeks and everyone else by

dr chaand nagpaul is the chair of the british medical association. very good to speak to you again. obviously difficult time for doctors. they are in the process of carrying out the vaccination programme as we speak. they have been very, very busy with this. did you have any reservation about sending this letter? was the kind of a bit of internal debate about whether it was light to do that and publicly? i about whether it was light to do that and publicly?— about whether it was light to do that and publicly? i want to say, first of all. _ that and publicly? i want to say, first of all. i— that and publicly? i want to say, first of all, i totally _ that and publicly? i want to say, first of all, i totally understand l first of all, i totally understand that the very difficult decisions that the very difficult decisions that need to be made when you have a very transmissible virus and you want to protect as many people as possible. the letter was actually a private letter to the chief medical officer in my role i do meet with him and exchanged letters and it was a private letter to r

dr chaand nagpaul is the group's chair.forward, but, at the same time, what we do need to be assured of is that people are properly protected because if the level of protection with the second dose is compromised by a longer delay, that, of course, will impact on the doctors that i represent because they are facing the virus at close quarters as they look after patients. they want to be assured of maximum protection because if they fall ill, they won't be there to look after patients. we do have about 50,000 nhs staff off work at the moment with covid or self—isolating, so there is a very serious issue about wanting to protect people so that they do not fall ill. nursing leaders are calling on the government to carry out an urgent review of whether better ppe is needed to protect against highly transmissible new strains of coronavirus. lets speak now to dame donna kinnair, royal college of nursing's chief executive and general secretary. thank you very much forjoining us. what is it that's troubling you about the availabili

dr chaand nagpaul is chair of the bma and joins us now. good morning, doctor. limited vaccine supplies and also wanting to protect their population maximally. no other nation has adopted the uk's approach. we think the flexibility to world health organization offers to world health organization offers to 42 days is being stretched far too much to go from six weeks right through to 12 weeks. the chief medical association and those across the four nations believe that this will still provide protection based on an extrapolation of data. we don't have that data. and there have been growing concerns about how effective the vaccine really will be continuing from 6—12 weeks. what we are saying is that we should be following the guidance that is being at by the who and followed up in order to maximise the protection of the population but also healthcare staff, and remember, at the moment we are in a locked down, so we're not seeing people mixing, the majority of the population are staying at home. i represent doctors who are of course very worried about their personal