A third of Meon Valley’s care homes have already been told they will receive the Covid vaccination for staff and residents in the next ten days, Flick has discovered.

Flick and her team called all 32 homes in the constituency to find out how the vaccine rollout was progressing on the first day it was handed to GP surgeries.

Of that total, 24 responded and 12 said they would receive the jabs for residents and carers by 17th January or sooner. Two said they expected their vaccines towards the end of the month and in February respectively, while the other 10 had not received a date. Staff at some homes have already been vaccinated.

“The Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine has only today been rolled out to GPs so this is an encouraging start to the programme here in the Meon Valley for this most vulnerable category,” said Flick.

“Of the 11 who have not yet received a date, many of them are in contact with their GP surgeries so I expect these to have firm times in the coming days too. I have told these homes to get back in touch if there is any problem and I am happy to intervene to try and speed up the process.

“It is vitally important we get residents in care homes and their staff vaccinated as quickly as possible. This is an enormous logistical task but absolutely vital in saving lives and lowering infection rates.”

The intention is for staff and residents to receive the jab at the same time in most cases, managers said.

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has said it is aiming for all care home residents to have been offered vaccines by the end of January.