HEALTH bosses are thrilled a Covid-19 vaccine will be available for use in the county from next week, as they 'welcome the chance to defeat this virus'.

As previously reported, Dorset County Hospital (DCH) has been confirmed as one of the 53 NHS sites chosen by the government to receive the Pfizer and BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine as the rollout begins next week - making the UK the first western country to approve a vaccine.

Leading hospitals will be designated as vaccine hubs to start immunising frontline NHS staff and patients. Hub hospitals will be responsible for vaccinating their own staff and ensuring neighbouring hospitals can get the jab to their own staff.

Dr Andrew Ball, director of critical care services at DCH, said: "DCH is gearing up to be able to start vaccinations for staff as soon as the vaccine is available. This will allow us to protect the workforce and maintain hospital services for the population of west Dorset as the busy winter season approaches.

"Although numbers of cases have been low in Dorset compared to national figures, there has been a significant second wave spike, especially in the east of the county and the availability of a vaccine is fantastic news for us all."

The vaccine, which has been shown to be 95 per cent effective in all age groups in studies, is given in two doses, 21 days apart. 40 million doses have been ordered for distribution across the UK, which is enough to vaccinate up to a third of the population.

The first deliveries of the vaccine to hospitals could come as early as Tuesday, with 800,000 doses being made available next week.

The vaccine will first be offered to people who live in care homes and care home workers, people aged 80 and over, and health and social care workers.

Teams from two other coronavirus vaccines - the Oxford-AstraZeneca and the Moderna vaccines - have also sent data to the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) for approval.

General practitioner at Royal Crescent Surgery in Weymouth and town councillor Jon Orrell said: "I am very pleased that we have three vaccines on the way, with the first coming soon. Viruses are halted by vaccines. Now we can at last look forward to ending lockdowns and travel restrictions once people get vaccinated.

"The Pfizer vaccine is fully tested and we are grateful for all the volunteers around the world you took the active or placebo doses in double quick time so we can all learn it is safe and effective.

"I welcome the chance to defeat this virus. It will be available in Dorset very soon and fully rolled out in 2021 for everyone to have the voluntary opportunity to get us all protected."