Equipment delivered to Blackpool Victoria Hospital ahead of Covid vaccination programme

The UK became the first country in the world to approve the jab, paving the way for vaccination to start next week.

Dr Jim Gardner, the Vic's medical director, said last week: "We are preparing to receive Covid vaccinations just as soon as they become available," although he did not know when that would be.

He added: "We have taken delivery of some big fridges to accommodate the Pfizer vaccine if and when it becomes available to use."

The UK has ordered 40 million doses of the vaccine, which has been shown in studies to be 95 per cent effective and works in all age groups, which is enough to vaccinate 20 million people with two doses given 21 days apart.

Around 10 million doses are expected to be available for use in the UK in the coming weeks for priority groups, including healthcare workers, with 800,000 doses arriving next week.

The Winter Gardens in the town centre could be used as a vaccination hub, The Gazette reported this morning.

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesman said the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) had approved the jab after “months of rigorous clinical trials and a thorough analysis of the data by experts” from the regulator.

He said they have concluded that the vaccine has “met its strict standards of safety, quality and effectiveness”.

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), which advises ministers, said vaccines should first be offered to elderly people in care homes and care home workers.

Next on the priority list are those aged 80 and above and frontline health workers.

All those aged 75 and over should be vaccinated next, followed by those 70 and over and clinically “extremely vulnerable” individuals, it said.

People aged 65 and over are next in line, alongside anyone aged 16 to 64 who has underlying health conditions which put them at a “higher risk of serious disease and mortality”.

Those aged 60 and over will be vaccinated next, followed by those aged 55 and over, and then those aged 50 and over.

No decisions have yet been made on priorities for under-50s.

Studies on the vaccine show it has to be stored at minus 70C but is also stable at 2C to 8C for a short time, meaning it could possibly be sent to different locations.

England’s chief medical officer, Professor Chris Whitty, said the vaccine approval is “excellent news and a step towards normality”.

But he tweeted: “It will take until spring until the vulnerable population who wish to are fully vaccinated. We can’t lower our guard yet.”

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