A Covid vaccine has been offered to residents at every eligible care home in England, the NHS has announced.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson described the achievement, expected to be confirmed by official figures on today, as a “crucial milestone”.
A target of 15 February has been set for the UK to vaccinate care home residents and carers, people over 70 and frontline care workers.
It means nearly nine million people have received the first dose of a vaccine, with about 490,000 having received two jabs.
NHS England said more than 10,000 care homes with older residents had been offered vaccines, although a “small remainder” of homes had visits deferred by local public health directors for safety reasons during local outbreaks.
Mr Johnson said vaccines were the “route out of the pandemic” but warned there will be “difficult moments to come” with the number of cases and people in hospital still “dangerously high”.
All those over 70 years old, clinically extremely vulnerable people and frontline health and social care workers make up the top four groups which the government has said should be inoculated by mid-February.
