Our vaccination programme continues to move at pace and I am very encouraged by the progress we are making locally and nationally. The effort of our doctors, nurses, vaccinators and volunteers has been nothing short of incredible and the statistics leave me astounded.
We have vaccinated 7.4 million people with their first dose. This is more than France, Germany, Italy and Spain combined.
Last week alone, we vaccinated 2.47 million people with a first dose. This equates to:
- 353, 421 jabs per day
- 14,725 jabs per hour
- 245 jabs per minute
- 4 jabs per second.
Locally we are also making excellent progress. The data published today but only accounts up to 24 January (so it is a few days behind) shows that 85.1% of our over 80s in Hampshire & IOW have now received a first vaccine. This equates to 90,490 people and we are also making good progress on the over 70s with 116,543 also receiving their first dose vaccine. Hampshire and IOW are current 5th out of 42 NHS regions for the total number of doses given.
I am continuing to monitor our local rollout very carefully and am working closely with our local GPs and NHS professionals to ensure Eastleigh has what it needs on a local level. At the moment, everything seems to be going well. Work to vaccinate the over 70s is well underway but people are reminded to be patient and wait to be contacted by either their GP or the NHS. The Government target remains offering a vaccination to the top four priority groups by 15 February.
You can find out more about the order of priority which has been drawn up by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) here and the Government's published Vaccine Delivery Plan here.
With the progress made on our vaccine, it is my sincere belief that this will protect the vulnerable, reduce pressure on our NHS, allow us to ease restrictions and get back to normal as quickly as possible. For now, we must continue to follow the rules and allow the NHS to vaccinate those most at risk.
