Nationally we are now up to 9.2 million people having had their first dose of vaccine, and locally two new mass vaccination centres have opened up in Staffordshire over the past week to accelerate the vaccination programme.
The facility at Daniel Platt Business Park in Tunstall opened last week. The second site at the Kingston Centre in Stafford opened today.
This means that more eligible residents and frontline health and care workers in Staffordshire will be protected against the virus.
With the onsite vaccine delivery managed by the NHS alongside Staffordshire County Council's community testing for people without symptoms, this is another example of the brilliant partnership working that has been on display throughout this pandemic between local government and the NHS. I want to thank all the staff and volunteers who have helped make this possible and continue to work tirelessly to get vaccines into the arms of priority local people.
As before, please do not contact the NHS to seek a vaccine, they will contact you. Shamefully, there are some people using the vaccination program to try to scam people, so I would like to stress that you will never be asked for your bank details. The vaccine is free.