More than 90 per cent of over 80s in Shropshire given first coronavirus jab, new figures show

There had been concern when NHS England figures, published last month, showed the county was lagging behind other areas of the country in terms of how many doses of the vaccine had been given.

But recent weeks have seen vaccination centres opening at Telford International Centre, Ludlow Racecourse and the New Bucks Head stadium in Wellington.

Further GP practices have also started vaccinating patients, while jabs also started to be given at Shrewsbury Indoor Bowls Centre today.

New NHS figures, published today, show 25,846 people over-80s had their first dose of the vaccine (90.2 per cent) by the end of January and 1,859 (6.5 per cent) have had their second dose.

But the percentage of 70- to 79-year-olds who have had the first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine is lower in the county than any other region.

More than 5,600 jabs have been put in the arms of people aged 70-74 (18.8 per cent) and 12,038 given to those aged 75 to 79 (55.6 per cent) in the county.

A total of 72,626 doses of the vaccine had been given in Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin up until the end of last month.

That figure includes more than 2,700 second doses being given out.

In England, 8,558,136 doses of the vaccine had been given by the end of January.