Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust today joins the national effort to protect people most at risk from Covid-19.

The trust, running Hull Royal Infirmary and Castle Hill Hospital, is one of 50 Hospital Hubs in the country and will be lead provider for the vaccination of people living in East and North Yorkshire and parts of Lincolnshire.

Over 80s, those working in care homes and NHS staff identified as clinically extremely vulnerable including people with specific cancers, severe respiratory conditions and those who have received solid organ transplants will be among the first to receive the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.

These priority groups have been determined by the Joint Committee of Vaccinations and Immunisation (JCVI) because they are at greatest risk from Covid-19.

As more supplies of the vaccine are received, the programme will be rolled out to other groups, including frontline NHS staff, using that national framework.

Chief Nurse Beverley Geary, Senior Responsible Officer for the programme in the Humber, Coast and Vale region, said: “We are proud to be playing our part in the national effort to protect people from this virus.

“We will start vaccinating people over 80 who are coming to our hospital for outpatient appointments from today and we are working with local authorities to identify care home staff who can receive the vaccine and protect residents in their care.

“But it is important to say that while we are moving fast, this will be a marathon, not a sprint. The Pfizer vaccine is complex to move, store and prepare – that’s why initially it will be given in hospitals.

“But we are working as quickly as possible with the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) and others to agree ways of expanding the programme and deliver it in more ways over the coming days and weeks, like through local vaccination services delivered by GPs, pharmacists and practice nurses and in people’s homes and care homes if they can’t come to us.”