THE MP for Redcar has praised a medical centre for being on course to administer first doses of the Covid vaccine to all of its patients aged over 80 by Friday.

Jacob Young heaped praise on Normanby Medical Centre when he visited on Thursday, January 7, to check progress on the vaccine rollout at the TS6 Vaccine Centre.

And the Conservative MP was left amazed by the "military precision" of the practice, and its GPs, nurses and staff, which has seen a rapid and efficient programme of vaccinations. The practice now aims to start rolling out the vaccine to local care homes from this weekend.

Mr Young said: "They have created a system with military precision to enable their first cohort of elderly patients, over 80, to receive their first dose of the Covid vaccine.

"TS6 is powering ahead with this rollout and hopes to have vaccinated all those in the first risk category by the end of Friday – an amazing achievement – faster than other local vaccine centres. I want to pay tribute to all the doctors, pharmacists, nurses and surgery staff who are working on this mammoth task.

"These people are trained in treating patients, not mass vaccine planning, and they have done an amazing job in what they’ve achieved so far.

"Across the country we have vaccinated more people than the whole of the EU combined - a real British success story.

"It's an incredibly promising start and we should all be encouraged. But this is a long process - we can’t take our foot off the gas."