Health chiefs have praised the 'heroic' efforts of staff and volunteers as the vaccination programme is successfully rolled out across Lincolnshire.

On Thursday, for the first time, there was a national publication of verified Covid vaccination data. This reported the amount of vaccinations delivered across each system in the NHS, including Lincolnshire.

Lincolnshire's Clinical Commissioning Group says all NHS systems have worked incredibly hard to successfully establish the national coronavirus vaccination programme and in Lincolnshire, its teams "have been nothing short of heroic in their efforts."

By Thursday, more than 50,000 vaccinations had been carried out in Lincolnshire, including more than half of the county's over 80s. The plan is to vaccinate all care home residents by the end of next week, as previously reported by Nub News.

Rebecca Neno, Deputy chief nurse, Lincolnshire NHS CCG, said yesterday: "We would like to thank each and every person involved in this effort for the significant part they have played.

"This includes not only NHS staff and primary care colleagues, but also our partners across Lincolnshire County Council and all district councils, the Local Resilience Forum, the voluntary sector, the University of Lincoln, our military liaison leads and many, many more."

The Government has released a target date of mid-February for vaccinations of the first four priority groups to occur, equating to 209,000 people in Lincolnshire.

The immediate focus is on vaccinating care home residents and people aged over 80 years and we are making strong progress, at close to 60%.

Martin Fahy, Director of nursing and quality, Lincolnshire NHS CCG said: "We know in Lincolnshire that we have a high proportion of care homes and elderly people compared to many other parts of the country. I am delighted with the progress that our teams across the county are making with the vaccination programme.

"We are all pushing hard to deliver the vaccines to our priority groups and the level of commitment to doing this is enormous. The feedback from patients has been fantastic too, and every day more people in Lincolnshire are being protected by receiving their vaccine."

Lincolnshire NHS says it is making excellent progress with vaccinating care homes residents, with over 65% of care homes completed. It wishes to thank GPs for their efforts so far in reaching the most vulnerable across one of the largest counties in the country.

GP Dr Sunil Hindocha, said: "It is a privilege to be part of this huge effort to vaccinate people across our county, this is about our patients, friends and families.

"This is one of the most rewarding and humbling experiences of my career, every time I hear the hope and gratitude spoken by someone I am vaccinating, for whom this is the first outing since March, I am reminded of the importance of delivering this vaccination to as many of our vulnerable population as quickly as we can. The positive feedback from our patients and care home partners has been very proudly received by us all."