Royal Preston Hospital is to be one of the ‘hospital’ hubs as the Covid-19 vaccine is rolled out.

Lancashire Teaching Hospitals Trust is one of the 50 ‘hubs’ to be confirmed by the government.

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The hospital is on standby to receive the Pfizer and BioNTech vaccine as early as Monday (7 December).

Priority for the coronavirus vaccine, which has been shown to be 94 per cent effective, is to be given to NHS and care staff and then older hospital patients to be vaccinated.

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A roll-out to GP practices and vaccination centres is due to follow in the coming months.

The UK has ordered 40million doses in total, with 800,000 of those being due next week across the country.

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The announcement about hospital hubs follows confirmation during Wednesday (2 December) morning the vaccine had been approved by health regulators.

Health secretary Matt Hancock said: “50 hospitals across the country are already set up and waiting to receive the vaccine as soon as it’s approved, so that can now happen.

“We’re the first country in the world to have a clinically-authorised vaccine to roll out.”

“So from early next week we will start that programme of vaccinating people against Covid-19 here in this country.

“And as we know from earlier announcements, this vaccine is effective. The MHRA have approved it as clinically safe. And we have a vaccine, so it’s very good news.”

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Blackpool Teaching Hospitals are also in the first batch of hospitals to receive the vaccine.

Deputy Chief Medical Officer for England Professor Jonathan Van-Tam said: “This is a remarkable day – congratulations to Pfizer/BioNTech and their researchers, and to all my colleagues in the Vaccine Taskforce for their tremendous work to get us to this point, and I want to thank the MHRA experts, including the experts at the Commission on Human Medicines, who have tirelessly and rigorously assessed the safety, effectiveness and quality of the vaccine.

“This vaccine has now passed all of the extensive checks needed for authorisation to supply and will soon be ready to be delivered to the NHS.

“To all those who are eligible – this is the start of vaccine supply for the UK. In time, you will be invited to book your appointments to get your vaccinations. I urge you to be ready, and to help make the process as smooth as possible. For now, stay patient, and keep yourselves safe by continuing to follow the rules and maintaining social distancing.”

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