MORE than 1,000 people in St Helens have been vaccinated against Covid-19,  as the borough’s mass immunisation programme kicked into gear.

St Helens CCG, working with local GP practices, started to roll out the Pfizer jab to patients over the age of 80 on Wednesday.

Patients were invited by their GPs to Saints’ Totally Wicked Stadium, the first community vaccination centre to open in Cheshire and Merseyside.

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St Helens CCG has confirmed that on Wednesday, 355 doses of the Pfizer jab were administered, followed by 295 on Thursday and 354 on Friday.

This means that in total, 1,004 doses of the Covid vaccine were administered to some of the borough’s most vulnerable people.

All those who are vaccinated will need to return for a booster jab 21 days later.

Dr Hilary Flett, Mill Street Medical Centre GP and governing body member of St Helens CCG, is the clinical lead for the borough’s Covid-19 vaccination roll-out.

Dr Flett said: “It was a very special moment to see this group of patients receiving their first Covid vaccination and we look forward to welcoming them back the first week in January for their booster.

“We will continue to offer the vaccine as supplies come online to our GP registered population aged 50 and over and those who are clinically vulnerable, working our way down from oldest and most at risk between now and Easter 2021 which is in the region of between 110-115,000 people.

“Thanks to everyone who has worked so hard to deliver this in a relatively short space of time – our practices, our patients and the CCG.”

The mass vaccination clinics at Saints’ Totally Wicked Stadium are expected run well into next year, subject to availability of the vaccine.

Patients do not need to contact their surgery as they will be contacted directly when the vaccine becomes available and it is their turn to have a jab.

However, it is unclear when the next batch of vaccines will be coming to St Helens.

It is also unclear whether it will be the Pfizer vaccine or the vaccine from Oxford University and the pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca.

The UK has ordered 100 million doses of the Oxford vaccine, which research has shown to be highly effective against Covid-19.

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It is also much easier to distribute than the current vaccine as it can be stored in a normal fridge, unlike Pfizer’s which has to be kept at -70C.

In addition to the community sites run by GPs, 50 hospital hubs around the country have also began offering the Pfizer jab.

However, St Helens and Knowsley Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs Whiston, St Helens and Newton hospitals, was not included in the first wave.