Coronavirus: Sussex hospital first to get Oxford vaccine

Just over half a million doses of the newly approved vaccine will be available this morning, with vulnerable groups already identified as the priority for immunisation.

The jabs will be given out at six hospital trusts across the country, including the Princess Royal Hospital in Haywards Heath, in what has been described as a “pivotal moment” in the UK’s fight against coronavirus.

Five other hospital trusts – two in London, and others Oxford, Lancashire and Warwickshire – will also start delivering the vaccine on Monday.

Five other hospital trusts – two in London, and others Oxford, Lancashire and Warwickshire – will also start delivering the vaccine on Monday.

The bulk of supplies will then be sent to hundreds of GP-led services and care homes later in the week for wider rollout, according to DHSC.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock said: “This is a pivotal moment in our fight against this awful virus and I hope it provides renewed hope to everybody that the end of this pandemic is in sight.”

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He urged everyone to continue to follow the coronavirus restrictions while the vaccination programme is under way to “keep cases down and protect our loved ones”.

The UK has secured 100 million doses of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine as part of its contract, enough for most of the population.

While some 530,000 doses are to be available from Monday, DHSC said that tens of millions more are to be delivered in the coming weeks and months once batches have been quality checked.

It comes almost a month after rollout of the vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech began, with more than one million people having now received their first dose.