The NHS has marked two years since the world's first Covid jab by urging the public to get boosted before Christmas.

143 million doses of the vaccine have been delivered since the start of the campaign two years ago.

With cases rising again and more mixing over the festive period, the NHS is urging those eligible to come forward this weekend. This weekend is two weeks before Christmas, the amount of time it takes for the vaccine to take effect.

NHS chief executive Amanda Pritchard said: “The unparalleled success of the life-saving NHS Covid-19 vaccination programme, which began exactly two years ago when the NHS administered the first covid vaccine in the world outside a clinical trial, has been the single most important reason we have been able to get back to a pre-pandemic way of life.

“The determination and dedication of NHS staff and volunteers up and down the country to respond with extraordinary speed and precision to rollout the vaccine is something we can all look back on with great pride – delivering more than 143 million doses so far – and staff are continuing to give hundreds of thousands of covid and flu jabs every single day to protect us all from serious illness.

“The health service is currently facing huge pressure from all angles – and while covid may feel like a thing of the past – we continue to deal with thousands of covid hospitalisations as well as the resurgence of flu and other respiratory viruses. Just as it was two years ago, the best thing you can do to avoid serious illness and hospitalisation is to make sure you are up to date with your covid and flu jabs.”

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