County jab rate among the highest

STAFFORDSHIRE is eighth highest in the country for the number of people that have had their first coronavirus vaccination, figures have revealed.

In total, 89.7 per cent of residents in the county in the top four priority Covid-19 vaccination groups have now had their jabs.

The latest data from NHS England shows 234,751 Staffordshire residents have had their first Covid-19 vaccine doses between December 8 and February 7.

Derbyshire is second on the list with more than 90 per cent of residents in the top four priority groups having the first jab.

In total, 222,792 Derbyshire residents have had their first Covid-19 vaccine doses, 92.5 per cent of all those in the top four priority groups as of February 4.

Somerset has achieved the higher percentage number of people who have had the jabs at 93.4 per cent, according to the figures.

The groups that have so far been vaccinated are: residents in care homes and their carers; patients aged 80 or over and frontline health and social care workers; patients aged 75 and over, and patients aged 70 and over, alongside any residents aged 16 to 69 who are clinically extremely vulnerable.

Among the 234,751 Staffordshire residents who have now received their first vaccine doses, 79,740 are aged 16 to 69; 49,929 are aged 70-74; 46,409 are aged 75-79; and 58,673 are aged 80 and above.

Once these categories have had their first vaccination, the programme will move on to the next groups, as well as administering second doses to those in groups one to four.

Up to February 7, 13,148 Staffordshire residents had also had their second vaccine doses.

This number will increase rapidly through March as residents return for their second doses, 12 weeks, or around three months, on from their first doses, which started in early December.

Top 10 areas for the first covid vaccination: 1. Somerset; 2. Derbyshire; 3. Cambridgeshire and Peterborough; 4. Lancashire and South Cumbria; 5. Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire; 6. Coventry and Warwickshire; 7. Herefordshire and Worcestershire; 8. Staffordshire and Stoke; 9. Dorset; 10. Bath and North East Somerset & Swindon and Wiltshire