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Revealed: England's 53 hospital hubs which will deliver the COVID-19 vaccine next week

In this photo illustration ampules seen in front of American multinational pharmaceutical corporation Pfizer and German biotechnology company Biontech logos. (Photo by Pavlo Gonchar / SOPA Images/Sipa USA)
The Pfizer/BioNTech COVID vaccine will start rolling out in 50 hospitals from next week. (PA)

The 53 hospitals across the UK that are already set up and ready to receive the coronavirus vaccine when it starts rolling out next week have been revealed.

On Wednesday, the UK became the first country in the world to give the go-ahead to the vaccine from Pfizer and BioNTech, paving the way for vaccinations to start next week.

Health secretary Matt Hancock revealed how the roll-out will proceed, with people over 80 and care home staff the first to receive it.

Scroll down to see the full list of hospitals ready to receive the vaccine

He said: "Fifty hospitals across the country are already set up and waiting to receive the vaccine as soon as it's approved, so that can now happen.

"Also vaccination centres, which will be big centres where people can go to get vaccinated. They are being set up now.

"There will also be a community rollout, including GPs and pharmacists.”

A truck leaves Pfizer Manufacturing in Puurs, Belgium, on Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2020. British officials authorized a COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use on Wednesday, greenlighting the world's first shot against the virus that's backed by rigorous science and taking a major step toward eventually ending the pandemic. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)
A truck leaves Pfizer Manufacturing in Puurs, Belgium, on the day its COVID-19 vaccine was approved in the UK. (AP)

At a Downing Street press conference on Wednesday, Boris Johnson welcomed the news of the vaccine – but acknowledged the “immense logistical challenges” of its rollout.

The prime minister said: “It will inevitably take some months before all the most vulnerable are protected – long, cold months.

“So it’s all the more vital that as we celebrate this scientific achievement we are not carried away with over-optimism or fall into the naive belief that the struggle is over.”

Watch: Boris Johnson hails Pfizer’s COVID vaccine

Sir Simon Stevens, chief executive of NHS England, said it would take until March or April for the entire at-risk population to be vaccinated.

Later in the briefing, he insisted the NHS was “raring to go” to vaccinate people in care homes, hopefully this month.

“Just as soon as we have the regulatory sign-off that we can do that, that we can get the jabs to the care homes so that the GPs and the nurses can arrive and give the care home residents that COVID vaccination, we will do that,” he said.

Despite warning against over-optimism, Johnson said it was now “sure and certain” that life could start returning to normal in 2021.

A combination of community testing, vaccines and social distancing measures was still necessary, he said.

Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson speaks during a virtual press conference inside 10 Downing Street in central London on December 2, 2020. - Britain on Wednesday became the first western country to approve a Covid-19 vaccine for general use, while Italy and Japan promised free inoculations for all even as the global death toll ticked towards 1.5 million. A mere 12 months after the pandemic began in China, the UK's independent medicines regulator gave its green light to the BioNTech-Pfizer drug in double-quick time but insisted safety had come first. (Photo by JOHN SIBLEY / POOL / AFP) (Photo by JOHN SIBLEY/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
Boris Johnson welcomed the news about the vaccine but warned against over-optimism. (Getty)

“As we do all this we are no longer resting on the mere hope that we can return to normal next year, in the spring, but rather the sure and certain knowledge that we will succeed and together reclaim our lives and all the things about our lives that we love,” he said.

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 would arrive next week, with millions more following in the coming weeks.

Ministers have faced criticism for claiming the swift approval of the vaccine was down to Brexit.

Jacob Rees-Mogg was accused of spreading “fake news” after tweeting the UK’s departure from the EU was behind the UK’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency ability to give the jab the green light.

The hospitals that will be first to receive the vaccine:

  1. Blackpool Teaching Hospitals

  2. Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals

  3. Cambridge University Hospitals

  4. Chesterfield Royal Hospital

  5. Countess of Chester Hospital

  6. Croydon University Hospital

  7. Dartford and Gravesham Hospitals

  8. Dorset County Hospitals

  9. East and North Hertfordshire Hospitals

  10. East Kent Hospitals

  11. East Suffolk and North Essex Hospitals

  12. Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust

  13. Gloucestershire Hospitals

  14. Great Western Hospitals

  15. Guys & St Thomas NHS Trust

  16. James Paget University Hospitals

  17. Kings College Hospital

  18. Princess Royal University Hospital, Kings

  19. Lancashire Teaching Hospital

  20. Leeds Teaching Hospital

  21. Leicester Partnership NHS Trust

  22. Liverpool University Hospitals

  23. Medway NHS Foundation Trust

  24. Mid and South Essex Hospitals

  25. Milton Keynes University Hospital

  26. Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital

  27. Northampton General Hospital

  28. North Bristol NHS Foundation Trust

  29. North West Anglia Foundation Trust

  30. Nottingham University Hospitals

  31. Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust

  32. Portsmouth Hospital University

  33. Royal Cornwall Hospitals

  34. Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust

  35. Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust

  36. Sheffield Teaching Hospitals

  37. Sherwood Forest Hospitals

  38. Shrewsbury and Telford NHS Trust

  39. Stockport NHS Foundation Trust

  40. St George's University Hospitals

  41. The Newcastle Upon Type Hospitals

  42. University College Hospitals

  43. University Hospitals Birmingham

  44. University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire

  45. University Hospitals Derby Burton

  46. University Hospitals of North Midlands

  47. University Hospitals Plymouth

  48. United Lincolnshire Hospitals

  49. Walsall Healthcare

  50. West Hertfordshire Hospitals

  51. Wirral University Teaching Hospital

  52. Worcestershire Acute Hospitals

  53. Yeovil District Hospital

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