COVID-19 Vaccination

This elearning programme provides information about the COVID-19 national vaccination programme. This programme began in the UK in December 2020 to protect against serious illness and death from the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

It is designed to provide healthcare practitioners involved in delivering the national COVID-19 vaccination programme with the knowledge they need to safely and effectively deliver the programme and to promote high uptake of the vaccine.

All those undertaking this elearning programme should complete the core knowledge session as this is designed to provide essential knowledge about COVID-19 and the key principles of immunisation needed to deliver the vaccines. Learners should then complete the vaccine-specific knowledge sessions for the vaccine(s) they will be involved in giving as these provide more detailed information including how the vaccine works, how it should be stored, prepared and administered and any contraindications, precautions and potential vaccine reactions. The assessment sessions should be completed after each knowledge session.

Intended audience

This programme is for healthcare practitioners involved in delivering COVID-19 vaccines, including:

• Nurses and nursing associates
• Doctors
• Pharmacists and pharmacy technicians
• Healthcare assistants
• General practice and community healthcare teams
• Anyone supporting the national COVID-19 vaccination programme

Key areas covered

The programme covers:

• Core knowledge about COVID-19 and how vaccines protect people
• Key immunisation principles needed for safe vaccine delivery
• Vaccine-specific information for each product in use
• How each vaccine works and who it is suitable for
• How to store, prepare and give the vaccines safely
• Contraindications, precautions and expected reactions
• Assessment sessions to check understanding
• Guidance on reasonable adjustments for people with a learning disability, autism or both
• Tips to support effective communication so vaccination is accessible to everyone

Reasonable adjustments: Communicating effectively with people about the vaccine, and providing the right support and reasonable adjustments, is essential to making the vaccination process accessible to everyone. Meeting people’s individual needs potentially reduces the health inequalities experienced by disabled people and can enable more satisfactory outcomes for both parties. Read this short Top Tips guide for vaccination staff working with people with a learning disability, autism or both https://www.england.nhs.uk/learning-disabilities/improving-health/reasonable-adjustments/  

The information presented was correct at the time of publication. As the COVID-19 vaccination programme is constantly changing to ensure optimal protection to those who need it, some of the information may change. Updates are being made to this programme as new information becomes available.