Newbury Vaccination Centre opens Government promotional video to encourage under 45s to get their Covid jab

The vaccination centre at Newbury Racecourse is one of the venues featured in the latest campaign video produced by the Government to encourage the under 45s to get their jab.

The opening shot of the video shows one of the vaccinators at the centre beckoning a patient forward to get their jab.

The montage of photographs shows volunteers and medical professionals from around the UK taking part in the biggest vaccination programme in history.

The video also shows retired Newbury GP Dr Bruce Letham, who volunteered his services for the vaccination programme.

Also featured in the sequence of photographs is James Potter, one of the car park marshals at the racecourse centre, who is easy to spot with his trademark comedy hands pointing people in the right direction.

The government has already hit its target of offering everybody in cohorts 1 to 9 – those aged 50 and over, the clinically vulnerable and health and social care workers – and is on track to offer a jab to all adults in the UK by the end of July.

Over 33.5 million people have now received a first dose of a vaccine – over 63.5 per cent of the UK adult population – with 12 million receiving their second dose. This means over 22.8 per cent of the UK adult population have now received both doses of a vaccine, giving them the strongest possible protection from this virus; with over 45.5 million vaccines administered overall.

These never-before-seen images, which illustrate the monumental and collective effort of NHS teams, volunteers and members of the public, have been compiled into a video montage to mark the success of the vaccine programme to date.

They provide an opportunity for people to look back on the programme, reflecting on the heroic efforts to protect those most vulnerable to COVID-19 and look ahead to the second phase of the vaccination programme.

From care homes to cathedrals and museums to stadiums, photojournalists Jude Palmer, Glenn Edward and Liam McBurney toured the UK over the past few months capturing intimate moments during the monumental national effort to vaccinate the British population and end the Covid-19 pandemic.

Health and Social Care Secretary Matt Hancock said: “These incredible photographs show the heroic efforts of thousands of vaccinators and volunteers in every corner of the UK who have given so much to protect the most vulnerable in our society against this cruel virus."

You can see the full video here