More than 600,000 people in the UK have received the first dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine as part of the largest vaccination programme in British history.
The government has today published figures which show the number of people who have received the vaccine between 8 December and 20 December in the UK is 616,933.
The UK government has procured doses on behalf of the entire UK. The number of people who have received their first dose of the vaccine in each of the 4 nations is:
- England: 521,594
- Scotland: 56,676
- Wales: 22,595
- Northern Ireland: 16,068
In line with advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), vaccines have been administered to care home residents, those aged 80 and over and health and social care staff through over 500 vaccination sites across the UK. The vaccination programme will continue at pace over Christmas.
The vaccine roll-out in care homes in England began on Wednesday 16 December, with hundreds of residents vaccinated across 7 care homes in Slough, Aintree, Herne Bay, Thanet, Chalfont St Peter, Droitwich and Cheltenham, as well as Chelsea Pensioners.
Larger care homes with 50 to 70 beds will be prioritised first, with around 2,900 care homes of this size in England.
Over the coming weeks and months, the rate of vaccination will increase as more doses become available and the programme continues to expand, with more vaccines being delivered direct to care homes.
The Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine was the first vaccine to be authorised for use by the medicines regulator, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). Patients require 2 doses of the vaccine for the vaccine to be at its most effective. Thanks to the work of the government’s Vaccines Taskforce, 40 million doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine have been secured for the whole of the UK.
Rolling reviews on the Oxford/AstraZeneca, Moderna and other vaccine candidates are underway and, if authorised by the MHRA, will mean there are more doses available to vaccinate those in need.