The head of the NHS in England has paid tribute to over 100,000 people who gave up around two million hours of their time to help ramp up the vaccination programme last year.

Working alongside NHS staff, selfless volunteers helped to deliver record-beating numbers of jabs in December – with over nine million doses delivered since the turbo-charged vaccination drive was first announced on 12 December, including over eight million booster and third doses.

To help protect the nation from the threat of the Omicron variant, the NHS launched a recruitment drive for more vaccinators and volunteers to help accelerate the booster efforts – and thousands have already come forward.

Paid vaccination roles have seen 17,500 people register their interest so far. An additional 48,000 people have registered as steward volunteers through the NHS Volunteer Responders programme in just over a month, with over 10,000 already deployed as part of the national mission to get the nation boosted.

Amanda Pritchard, NHS chief executive, said: “Alongside NHS staff, our selfless volunteers have worked tirelessly to protect the nation – in football stadiums, shopping centres, Christmas markets and countless other vaccination sites up and down the country.

“I want to give my personal thanks to everyone who has given up their time to help us beat record after record – continuing to make the NHS Covid-19 vaccination programme the biggest and most successful in health service history. I’m sure the nation will join me in paying tribute to these amazing volunteers, whose efforts will undoubtedly help to save many more lives.”