The impact of the vaccine slowdown in County Durham and Darlington revealed

Official NHS data for the North-East and North Yorkshire shows around 5,000 fewer doses were available in the week leading to April 11, compared with the week before.

Meanwhile data nationally shows the number of first doses was down by around 47 per cent across England over the same time period.

But the NHS says despite the slowdown it remains "on track" to have offered at least  the first dose of the jab to all adults by the end of July.

It comes as the NHS last month warned vulnerable priority groups – cohorts one to nine – not to "delay" booking an appointment ahead of the anticipated reduction in supply.

Read more: People in cohorts 1 to 9 warned to book their Covid jab before March 29

At the time, health leaders across the region were told to focus their efforts on top priority groups in a letter signed by Dr Nikita Kanani, medical director for primary care for the NHS England, and Emily Lawson, chief commercial officer.

The Durham Arnison Centre mass vaccination site Picture: SARAH CALDECOTT

It said: "Those aged 49 years or younger should not be offered vaccination unless they are eligible via a higher cohort because they are, for example, clinically vulnerable, unpaid carer or frontline health and care workers."

It is understood that a delay in deliveries from India and the need to retest a batch of 1.7m doses is behind the issues with vaccine supplies currently facing the UK.

But the data for County Durham, Darlington and North Yorkshire has shown the impact of the supply constraints on the ability to deliver the vaccine – with all areas at their lowest in the past five weeks.

In Darlington, NHS England data showed that 1,129 first doses of the vaccine was administered in the seven days to April 11 – 1,191 fewer than the week before.

Data over the same period showed that County Durham saw 3,630 first doses administered – 3,372 fewer than the week before.

Northallerton High Street Picture: SARAH CALDECOTT

Meanwhile in North Yorkshire, Hambleton and Richmondshire also felt the pinch in supply as their jabs were down considerably.

Hambleton saw 761 first doses of vaccine administered – 195 fewer than the week before, meanwhile Richmondshire saw 644 first doses – 456 fewer than the week previous.

Analysis of this data nationally saw that across England, 355,000 first doses of the vaccine were given, the equivalent of 47 per cent fewer than the previous week, and that this was the lowest number since the beginning of March.

But thankfully, a move to reserve some Pfizer/BioNTech supplies for those requiring their second dose contributed to figures which showed the number of people receiving their second dose actually increased by 608,000.

The Darlington PCN vaccination site Picture: SARAH CALDECOTT

Dr Amanda Riley of the Darlington Primary Care Network, responsible for the vaccine rollout at Feethams House, said it had not seen any concerns regarding supply for second doses.

Dr Riley made the comments as she urged those eligible to continue to book their appointment via the national booking system.

She said: "We would encourage anyone who is eligible to book an appointment via the National Booking System as soon as possible. 

"There are currently appointments available on the National Booking System in Darlington.

"We (Darlington PCN) have been very busy with second dose clinics and we have not seen any concerns regards supply for second doses. 

"We are contacting people to receive their second dose in the 11th week after their first."

'We're still on track'

In response, a spokesperson for the Department of Health said that despite vaccine reductions it had hit its target to offer the jab to those eligible and that it was still on track to meet its target for all adults.

A spokesperson said: “Our vaccination programme continues to make phenomenal progress – with over 40 million vaccines administered so far across the UK.

"We have hit our target to offer a vaccine to everyone in phase one of the vaccination programme and we are on track to offer a jab to all adults by the end of July.”