The English
care homes where all older people are eligible to get COVID-19 vaccine has now received
their first vaccine, the National Health Service (NHS) declared on Monday. However, few of the care homes are still left to receive vaccine due to extreme
local virus outbreaks but will be visited shortly while some were not able to
get vaccinated “for other clinical reasons”, NHS added.

NHS England said, “The NHS vaccination programme,
nurses, GPs and other NHS staff have offered the life-saving jab to people
living at more than 10,000 care homes with older residents”, reported AFP.

Also read: UK trains vaccine volunteers to achieve PM Boris Johnson’s goal of 15 million inoculations by Feb

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said, “Today marks a crucial
milestone in our ongoing race to vaccinate the most vulnerable against this
deadly disease. We said we would prioritise and protect care home residents,
and that is exactly what we have done”. Although, he also alerted of
“difficult moments to come”.

Britain was the first Western country to start a vaccination campaign
and has inoculated around nine million people till date. The government has set
a target of inoculating 15 million by mid-February, representing the country’s
most vulnerable and at risk groups, reported AFP.

Also read: In a span of 15 days, India inches closer to four million inoculation mark

The country is presently vaccinating Pfizer/BioNTech and AstraZeneca and
will soon be getting Moderna as well.

Sunday reported more 21,008 cases with 34,783 still in hospital, including
3,832 on ventilation in Britain.

The country, following a new strain of the virus is facing a third
nation-wide lockdown and has reported above 106,000 deaths from the coronavirus
making it the worst toll in Europe.