Plans for the creation of a hub to vaccinate potentially thousands of people is believed to be underway in a Hertfordshire town.

The leader of Stevenage Borough Council, Sharon Taylor, has tweeted today that a Covid-19 vaccination centre is coming to Stevenage.

Cllr Taylor said there would be “more information to come” but it is understood the location of the hub would be Robertson House in Gunnells Wood Road.

This morning, Health Secretary Matt Hancock announced this morning the UK had become the first country in the world to approve a jab from Pfizer and BioNTech.

The vaccine, approved by the independent Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has been shown in studies to be 95 per cent effective and works in all age groups.

Watford Observer:

Matt Hancock speaking at a Downing Street Covid briefing on November 30. Credit: PA

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), which advises ministers, said vaccines should first be offered to elderly people in care homes and care home workers.

Next on the priority list are those aged 80 and above and frontline health workers.

Doses are understood to have been made available to staff at both West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust and East and North Hertfordshire NHS Trust.

All those aged 75 and over should be vaccinated next, followed by those 70 and over and clinically “extremely vulnerable” individuals, it said.

Watford Observer:

Photo issued by BioNTech SE 2020 of a vial of a coronavirus vaccine. Credit: PA

The UK has ordered 40 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine, enough to vaccinate 20 million people with two doses, given 21 days apart.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock said 800,000 doses of the jab will arrive next week, with millions more arriving in the coming weeks.

But Mr Hancock admitted he is unsure how many Britons will need to receive a Covid-19 vaccine before restrictions can be lifted.

He said that while it is known the vaccine protects you as an individual, it is unclear what impact it has on reducing the transmission of Covid-19.

Lockdown restrictions were lifted in England today, with Hertfordshire heading into ‘high alert’ Tier 2 restrictions, despite a county-wide decline in cases over the last week or so.

Hertfordshire County Council reported the county’s latest infection rate over a seven day period is 113.7, which is down 21.9 per cent on the previous seven-day rate.

But cases are higher in some districts including Watford, Hertsmere, and Broxbourne.