More than one third of people aged 80 and over in England have received at least one dose of the coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine as of 10 January.

Dr Mary Ramsay, Head of Immunisation at Public Health England, said:

"To have vaccinated over a third of all over 80s by this point in the programme is a great achievement and I want to pay tribute to all those across the health system who have made this happen. Although this sets us on the right path to getting back to normal life, we are not there yet and people must continue to follow the guidance that is in place to protect themselves and their loved ones.

These data will help us to evaluate the protection from the vaccine and to effectively target the roll-out of the programme to help control the virus and save lives."

A third COVID-19 vaccine – by Moderna – was recently approved for use in the UK. This follows a thorough and rigorous assessment by the MHRA’s teams of scientists, including advice from the independent Commission on Human Medicines.

The NHS was the first in the world to deliver both the Pfizer/BioNTech and Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccines, with over 3.5 million people having now been vaccinated. NHS staff are doing an incredible job to deliver what it is the largest vaccination programme in our history, at the same time as continuing to be there for everyone who needs care, but we need the public to play their part too:

• Please don’t contact the NHS to seek a vaccine, we will contact you
• When we do contact you, please attend your booked appointments at exactly the time you’re asked to, so that we can avoid queues in this cold weather
• Continue to follow all the guidance in place to control the virus and save lives, even if you have already had your vaccine.