Step by step, we’re winning
WE HAVE vaccinated people in front of cinema screens in Aylesbury, and inside an open-air museum in the West Midlands.
We’ve jabbed them on the set of the Bafta-winning Peaky Blinders, in the wings of Ashton Gate stadium – at the home of Bristol City FC – and along the pews of Salisbury Cathedral, left, while an organist played.
Each jab has brought us a step closer to normal life – and yesterday we passed the 15 million mark. That is 15 million of the most vulnerable people in this country who have had their first dose.
Overall, more than a quarter of all adults have now started to receive much needed protection from this dreadful disease.
This amazing achievement means that we have been able to offer a vaccination to all over-70s, all older care home residents, and our brilliant social care staff.
That means those who are most vulnerable have all been offered a jab and the take-up has been extraordinary.
High take-up matters so much, both to protect the most vulnerable and ensure we can put this pandemic behind us as safely as possible.
To get this operation right we have needed a cohesive approach – one that brings together a huge team, from Government, local authorities and pharmaceutical companies, labs, universities and the brilliant Vaccines Taskforce.
At the heart of it is our NHS. Our country is in the fortunate position of being steeped in vaccination experience and from past inoculation programmes. Through the NHS, we have built a strong immunisation culture.
Year after year we see high take-up of the annual flu jab and this year is the highest on record.
Our health service was able to hit the ground running with the programme, applying the full weight of this expertise, along with the logistical know-how of our Armed Forces and an army of citizen volunteers determined to do their bit.
Many are devoting themselves daily to this endeavour – the vast numbers of volunteer jabbers, the GPs, doctors and nurses, the delivery drivers, the workers at manufacturing plants and the admin staff.
For example, the AstraZeneca vaccines were created by Oxford University scientists, brewed in bioreactors in British plants in Oxford, Keele, and Staffordshire, then sent in part to a plant in Wrexham in Wales for a final “fill and finish”.
The hard work is paying off with every single jab that we give.