A HEALTH boss has urged residents to be brave and come forward to be vaccinated against Covid-19.

Durham County Council’s director of public health, Amanda Healy, received her first Oxford-AstraZeneca jab at Boots pharmacy in Durham market place yesterday and urged those unsure about the vaccine to accept the offer.

She said: “Receiving the jab feels like quite a milestone, it is a positive thing as we’ve been working on this pandemic for the last 15 months so it feels like a good step in the right direction.

“I think it’s important to understand why people are nervous, if people need further information or are worried about particular elements of it we need to try and get the correct information to them.

“I would obviously encourage everybody who has been offered the vaccine to take it up because it is making a big difference and will help us along with all the other measures to get back to how we like to live our lives.”

It comes after the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) announced that more than 30 million people in the UK have received their first dose of the coronavirus vaccine.

A total of 30,151,287 people between December 8 and March 27 received their first jabs – around 57 per cent of all UK adults.

Meanwhile, 3,527,481 people – accounting for six per cent of the adult population – have had their second doses, totalling 33,678,768 jabs administered overall.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock said: “I’m absolutely thrilled that more than 30 million people have now had the jab across the UK – including 650,000 vaccinations delivered yesterday.

“The vaccine is saving lives and is our route out of this pandemic. I want to say a massive thanks to the team.

“When you get the call – get the jab.”

Ms Healy said County Durham Covid rates are low and said as things begin to open she would urge residents to continue to act responsibly and thanked the community for the work they have done in preventing the spread of the virus.