Ten further mass vaccination centres are due to open in England this week with more than a million over-80s invited to receive their coronavirus jab as part of the drive to protect 15m people in the most vulnerable groups by mid-February.
It comes as health secretary Matt Hancock urged the public to “play their part” in supporting “the largest vaccination programme in British history”, including helping the elderly attend their appointments.
Mr Hancock called on the public to commit to three pledges to “help out”, “join up” and “stay informed” during ongoing efforts to vaccinate, run clinical trials and share accurate health advice.
Official figures released on Saturday showed 3,559,179 people have now received their first dose of vaccine – a rise of 324,233 in 24 hours, bringing the total protected to around one in 19 of the UK population.
On Saturday 1,295 daily deaths were reported, increasing the pandemic death toll to 88,590. But numbers of positive cases reported over a 24-hour period fell to 41,346.
Blackburn Cathedral, St Helens rugby ground, Norwich Food Court and a park-and-ride outside York are among the new locations where large-scale vaccination will take place from Monday.
NHS England said they joined the seven existing mass vaccination sites across the country, alongside a thousand GP-led surgeries and more than 250 hospitals already providing jabs.
