REDDITCH MP Rachel Maclean has praised everyone involved in the rollout of the Covid vaccines following her visit to Knights Pharmacy in Redditch.

It's the first community pharmacy to deliver the vaccines in Herefordshire and Worcestershire.

The Redditch pharmacy converted its HQ on Palmer Road into a vaccination centre, and Mrs Maclean visited the site last Friday (January 22) to see the vaccine rollout in action.

It’s just one of 65 pharmacy sites across England to have been selected to begin delivering the Covid Vaccines.

According to the latest data, in Herefordshire and Worcestershire 78,940 vaccinations have been administered as part of plans to vaccinate the top four priority groups by mid-February.

The United Kingdom is leading the way with its vaccination programme. So far, more than 5million vaccinations have been administered to 4.6 million people – the fourth highest per capita, behind only Bahrain, the UAE and Israel. In addition, only two countries have administered more doses than the United Kingdom – China and the USA.

The Government’s Vaccines Delivery Plan sets out how it aims to administer 2 million doses of vaccines by the end of January, as well as offering vaccines to every elderly are home resident by the end of the month. So far, more than half of those over 80s and care home residents have received a vaccine.

The Government is opening up new vaccination sites every day as part of its Vaccine Delivery Plan to ensure everyone is within 10 miles of a vaccination centre.

Mrs Maclean said: “I’d like to take this opportunity to thank those involved in the rollout of the Covid Vaccines, including everyone at Knights Pharmacy for the work they’ve done to get their vaccination centre up and running.

“It really was uplifting to visit the vaccination centre and to see people receiving the vaccine. We all need some positivity after the year we have all been through.

“It’s great to see that so many people in our area have received the vaccine as we lead the world in our fightback against coronavirus.”