Current track

Title

Artist

Current show

Breakfast with Phil

7:00 am 9:00 am

Current show

Breakfast with Phil

7:00 am 9:00 am

Background

COVID-19: Locations revealed of first pharmacies to offer coronavirus jab

Written by on 14/01/2021

Boots and Superdrug branches are among pharmacies that will be able to administer the coronavirus vaccine from today.

Six outlets will initially be involved in the effort to speed up the vaccination effort, but NHS England says more than 200 will be up and running by the end of the month.

The first to take part are:

• Halifax – Boots

• Guildford – Superdrug

• Macclesfield – Andrews Pharmacy

• Edgware, north London – Cullimore Chemist

• Telford – Woodside Pharmacy

• Widnes – Appleton Village pharmacy

They have been selected as they are spread throughout England and can deliver large volumes of the vaccine, while still maintaining proper social distancing.

Some 200 hospitals and 800 GP clinics, as well as seven mass vaccination sites, are already administering the jab.

More than 2.6 million people have had the jab so far as the government races to vaccinate the four most vulnerable groups by the middle of February – totalling almost 15 million.

Boris Johnson pledged on Wednesday that vaccinations would be given 24/7 “as soon as we can”.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock said it was “fantastic” that vaccinations were coming to the high street.

He said: “Pharmacies sit at the heart of local communities and will make a big difference to our rollout programme by providing even more local, convenient places for those that are eligible to get their jab.

“Pharmacists have worked tirelessly throughout the pandemic, often acting as the first port of call for medical advice – and often staying open when all around have closed.”

The high street rollout comes as another 1,564 coronavirus deaths were reported in the UK – the highest daily figure since the pandemic began following the late addition of some data going as far back as May.

The previous highest increase was 1,325, which was reported on 8 January.

It takes the total number of deaths within 28 days of a positive COVID-19 test to 84,767.

Another 47,525 cases have also been added to the government’s coronavirus data dashboard – the third day running that new infections have been below 50,000. That total is now 3,211,576.

While the majority of the latest fatalities reported took place during the past week, some date back to 8 May 2020, when the very first national lockdown was still in place.

Ahead of the update to the UK-wide figures, NHS England confirmed that another 1,012 people who tested positive for COVID-19 had died in hospital, bringing that total to 57,828.

Patients were aged between 39 and 102 and all except 46 (aged 39 to 98) had known underlying health conditions.

(c) Sky News 2021: COVID-19: Locations revealed of first pharmacies to offer coronavirus jab