Wiltshire marks six-month jab anniversary

Today marks exactly six months since the COVID-19 vaccination programme was rolled-out in the UK.

On December 8 2020, Margaret Kennan became the first person in the world to receive a Coronavirus jab outside of a clinical trial. It was administered at Coventry's University Hospital.

Wiltshire had to wait marginally longer for its vaccination programme to be launched. The county's first dose was administered on December 9, when a Pfizer vaccine was given to 86-year-old Alex Hale at Great Western Hospital.

Over 577,000 people across Bath, North East Somerset, Swindon and Wiltshire have since been administered their first dose of a COVID vaccination. That amounts to more than half of the region's total population.

Of those residents, around two thirds have also received their second dose.

'We have all been working tirelessly throughout the pandemic'

Last month, Swindon's Director of Public Health - Steve Maddern - praised the "unsung heroes" from the local jab teams.

"Never have we seen a vaccination programme in our history that has been able to be rolled-out at such a pace as this has been.

"We have all been working tirelessly throughout the pandemic in a variety of different roles, to make sure that we can protect the population of Swindon and beyond," he told Greatest Hits Radio.

It has now been confirmed that over 25s can arrange their Coronavirus vaccination too:

Hear all the latest news from across the UK on the hour, every hour, on Greatest Hits Radio on DAB, smartspeaker, at greatesthitsradio.co.uk, and on the Rayo app.

• steam museum
• wiltshire
• great western hospital