The East Devon district has England's 6th highest number of people taking up the third booster vaccine.

Today (December 8 ) marks one year since the NHS coronavirus vaccine programme was launched in the UK and since then 89.7 per cent (123,487 people) in East Devon have had their first dose of the vaccine, and 84.2 per cent (115,919 people) have had the second dose.

Since the booster programme was also launched a few weeks ago, nearly half of East Devon residents have already had their third booster jab.

According to the figures from the Office for National Statistics, East Devon ranks 6th highest local authority in the uptake of the third booster jab out of all authorities in England.

Over the past year local authorities have set about converting sports venues and places of worship into vaccination centres. In East Devon, a vaccination centre was set up at Greendale Business Park.

A few weeks ago the Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced the vaccine rollout would be expanded to a third booster jab for all over-50s to tackle the new Omicron variant of Covid. On Tuesday, December 7, the NHS halved the wait for the third vaccine from six months to three for over-40s and those in high risk groups.

Cllr James Jamieson, Local Government Agency chairman, said: “The vaccine roll-out programme has been a huge success so far and local authorities have been integral to the roll-out of the programme from the beginning, working closely with the NHS.

“Using their local knowledge, they have been able to offer more personalised support to encourage residents to get vaccinated. The success of the programme has enabled society to return to a level of normality which has had significant benefits for the health and wellbeing of all residents while supporting the recovery of our economy.

“Vaccination is ultimately our route out of this pandemic and we encourage everyone to get their Covid-19 vaccine, whether it be your first, second or booster dose. Although there is still work to be done to overcome issues such as vaccine hesitancy, communities can be assured that councils will continue working hard to ensure residents are supported to get the vaccine.”