Army steps in

Everyone in the country will be within 16 kilometres of their nearest vaccination centre, with the Army drafted in to ensure delivery of hundreds of thousands of jabs a day, Boris Johnson has pledged. The Prime Minister said the new target would be met by the end of next week, as the military’s lead on vaccines promised to get ‘‘jabs in arms, not shelves’’. More than 1000 GP centres, 223 hospital sites and seven mass vaccination centres are to open by next week, as part of efforts to hasten the roll-out. The Army has been drafted in to assist with logistics as medics complain of delays receiving deliveries. Yesterday Matt Hancock, the Health Secretary, was left embarrassed when he arrived at a London surgery to promote the roll-out, only to find deliveries had failed to materialise.