More than 3.5 million first coronavirus doses administered so far in UK

16 January 2021, 15:57 | Updated: 17 January 2021, 08:47

More people have now been vaccinated against coronavirus in the UK than have tested positive since the pandemic started.

The total number of jabs administered in the UK, including both first and second doses, is 4,006,440.

A total of 3,514,385 Covid-19 vaccinations had taken place in England between December 8 and January 15, according to provisional NHS England data.

It is more than the total number of Covid infections across the entire UK since the pandemic began.

The total includes first and second doses, which is a rise of 324,711 on Friday's figures.

Of this number, 3,090,058 were the first dose of the vaccine, a rise of 320,894 on Friday's figures, while 424,327 were the second dose, an increase of 3,817.

Some 117,906 first doses have been given in Northern Ireland, on top of the 3,090,058 in England, 126,375 in Wales and 224,840 in Scotland.

So far, 447,261 second doses have been administered in the UK, including 424,327 in England, 129 in Wales, 19,474 in Northern Ireland and 3,331 in Scotland.

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It comes as Salisbury Cathedral opened its doors as a Covid-19 vaccination centre, with an RAF veteran among the first to receive his jab there on Saturday.

NHS staff, patients and those accompanying them were treated to music from the Cathedral's famous Father Willis organ throughout Saturday.

A programme of music to mark the occasion was developed by David Halls, director of music for the cathedral, and John Challenger, the assistant director of music.

Former Flight Sergeant Louis Godwin, 95, gave a thumbs-up after being vaccinated in the cathedral, which dates back more than 800 years.

He described receiving the Pfizer/BioNTech jab as "absolutely marvellous" and "no trouble at all".

Salisbury Cathedral turned into vaccine centre

It was also announced on Saturday that the UK faces short-term delays in delivery of the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine as the company upgrades its production capacity.

The pharmaceutical giant is upscaling production at its plant in Puurs, Belgium, in efforts to produce more doses than originally planned for 2021.

But the move will temporarily reduce deliveries to all European countries, prompting anger from several EU countries.

Shipments of the vaccine, produced in partnership with Germany's BioNTech, to the UK are set to be affected this month.

But the firm said the overall number of doses due to be delivered between January and March will remain the same.

A Pfizer spokeswoman said: "We understand a change to deliveries has the potential to create uncertainty.

"However, we can confirm the overall projected volumes of delivery to the UK remain the same for quarter one (January to March).

"We continue to liaise with the UK Government and the Vaccines Taskforce to work through short-term impact of these changes to our January deliveries and support the goals of the UK Covid-19 vaccination programme."

In response, a spokeswoman for the Government said that it is still working to its plan of vaccinating all four priority groups by February 15.