The UK vaccination drive has hit a key milestone with more than 15 million people having received the first dose of a COVID-19 jab, as the next phase launches for over-65s.

The UK embarked on its large-scale vaccination programme against COVID-19 on 8 December 2020, when the first person in the world received the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 jab outside of trials.

“I’m so proud of the team – we’ve hit this fantastic milestone in our battle against COVID-19. In less than ten weeks we’ve jabbed over 15 million people across the UK,” said Health and Social Care Secretary Matt Hancock.

“That’s one in every four adults now starting to receive protection from this dreadful disease.

“This accomplishment is thanks to the incredible efforts of frontline NHS workers, vaccine volunteers, the armed forces and all those working in local and central government. The vaccine rollout shows what our country can achieve working together,” he added.

The phased programme has so far been vaccinating people in the first four priority groups, including people aged 70 and over, care home residents and staff, the extremely clinically vulnerable and NHS staff.

The next phase will see people aged 65 to 69 and those who are clinically vulnerable against COVID-19 offered the jab from today.

According to the UK’s Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), the clinically vulnerable includes people with conditions including chronic respiratory disease, chronic heart disease, severe asthma, chronic kidney disease, diabetes and more.

“This milestone is cause for celebration- but the challenge continues and GP teams are already preparing for the next phase of the vaccination programme, and will start inviting patients in the next priority group from [15 February],” said Professor Martin Marshall, chair of the Royal College of GPs (RCGP).

“We would encourage every patient who receives an invitation to come forward and get vaccinated – this will be vital in protecting the population from COVID-19 and helping to get life back to normal,” he added.