A MASS vaccination site in the North-East has started immunising people against the coronavirus.

Nurses, doctors, pharmacists and other NHS staff are also being vaccinated along with social care and care home workers at the Centre for Life in Newcastle.

The site is one of seven across England opened as part of the drive to rollout the vaccine.

People aged 80 and over are being invited to book one of the new Oxford AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccines at the centre.

The Government has said it hopes to provide 14 million jabs by the middle of February.

Letters have been sent to people living within a 45-minute drive of the Centre for Life.

Professor Neil Watson, of Newcastle Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, who is running the Covid Vaccination Programme in the region, said: “The vaccination centres are an important part of the next phase of rolling out the vaccination programme more widely.

“Our focus is on the top priority cohorts and we are all inspired by the potential of saving thousands of lives and knowing this gives many of us hope for the future.”