No Moderna for Milton Keynes yet as neighbouring Northants rolls out new vaccine today

The news comes as neighbouring Northamptonshire became one of the first sites in England to begin administering the Moderna vaccine to eligible people – including those aged 45 to 49.

The entire county of Northants has been selected as one of a number of locations across the country to use the new vaccine, which was approved for use in the UK by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) in January.

The first doses were administered at 8am today at the Northampton Vaccination Centre in Moulton Park. This coincides with the national vaccination programme opening up bookings to people aged 45 to 49 for the first time.

Chris Pallot, Director of the Northamptonshire COVID-19 Vaccination Programme, said: “We are delighted to become one of the first areas of England to start using the Moderna vaccine from today. This is a further indication, if it were needed, of the confidence in the vaccination programme in our county.

“It’s fantastic news that the third approved COVID-19 vaccine has arrived in our county to provide another method of protecting our communities from coronavirus – and that means we’re now able to open up more appointments at the Vaccination Centre this week for eligible people, including those aged 45 to 49.

Meanwhile BLMK, which is the Milton Keynes Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), has not yet been given a timetable for the rollout of the Moderna vaccine here.