Ten new large-scale Vaccination Centres, capable of jabbing thousands of people a week, are opening their doors in every health region across the country.

The new sites mean there will be 17 Vaccination Centres offering people an alternative to GP-led and hospital services, with more to follow. The new sites will help to ensure that everyone in England is in easy reach of a vaccination service, including rural parts of the country like Boston and Norwich.

NHS England details that there are already 1,200 hospitals and GP-led services with newly published figures showing the NHS has delivered more than 3.79 million jabs so far, including vaccinating more than one in three people aged 80 and over.

Stephen Powis, NHS England’s medical director, said: “The NHS vaccination programme has got off to a strong start with our hard-working staff delivering more than three million vaccinations while also dealing with the latest wave of coronavirus infections. This is accelerating as more vaccine supplies come on stream with more sites opening all the time so that we can protect as many people as swiftly as possible.

“The rapid progress we have already made is testament to NHS staff who are pulling out all the stops to vaccinate the most vulnerable while caring for so many people who are seriously ill with Covid. In the most challenging of circumstances we are seeing the very best of the NHS.”

Among the new sites is Taunton Racecourse, Norwich Foodcourt, St Helens Rugby Ground and the Princess Royal Sports Arena, Lincolnshire.