People in Sittingbourne are being vaccinated against coronavirus for the first time this week.

The town’s Age UK centre, in the Avenue of Remembrance, opened to patients on Saturday morning and as of this morning more than 1,059 had had their jab.

Dr Shaun Potter the practice manager

Dr Shaun Potter, practice manager of The Chestnuts Surgery in Sittingbourne, is leading the hub.

Asked why it had taken longer for Sittingbourne to start the vaccination rollout while over-80s elsewhere, including on Sheppey, were receiving theirs before Christmas, he said: “It has been down to demand for vaccinations across the UK.

“The earliest we could get it was last week.

“Also, with Sittingbourne, to have a site set up we had to have it approved by NHS England - so it was out of our hands.

“But it’s brilliant news that we’re now up and running. The response has been amazing.

"We've got various patients that are thanking us for the work that we're doing and commenting on how nice it is to actually get out of the house for the first time - it has been really positive."

He added: “The programme itself is going exactly to plan, our first three days in and we’ve vaccinated over 1,059 patients, so very successful so far.

“We just want all our patients to know we’ve got the vaccine, it’s here for the long haul and we plan on getting as many people vaccinated as soon as we possibly can.”

The hub is open daily from 8am to 8pm and, on an average day, has 11 clinical staff and a minimum of seven volunteers running the service.

It is hoped by the end of next week most people over 80, care home patients and staff, NHS front-line staff, district nurses and professionally registered carers in the town will have had their jabs.

Dr Potter said: "It does help if people hold off and wait for us to get in touch with them about their vaccinations, because we will.

"The patient lists are looked at very carefully, so no-one will get missed."

Among the first tranche of over-80s to be called in were Sittingbourne couple Alec and Monica Kent, both 81.

Monica said: “They invited us on January 13, my birthday. It was a good present and I’ll never forget it.

"It's a shame it wasn't done sooner but it's all brilliantly done."

Alec added: "I'm pleased that we've both had it done. It was very quick and efficient."

Jean Merner, 85, said it made her feel “happy” to have been vaccinated.

“It was so easy, you didn’t even know you’d had it done,” she said.

"When I first got the phone call about having the vaccine, I felt relieved because things are progressing."

Dinah Milgate, 88, said she too felt “relieved”.

“I just wanted to get it done and eventually get back to some kind of normality.”

She added: “I just want a hug.

"We are a very huggable, my family, and I haven’t had a hug since my birthday in March last year.

"It's odd times that we're in. I was around in the war, but it was nothing like this.

“I think everyone should have the vaccine. I don’t quite understand people who are against it.”

Clare Burgess, chief executive of Age UK Faversham and Sittingbourne, was pleased with how the roll-out was going.

She added: “I’d like to say a huge thank you to all the Age UK staff and volunteers who are volunteering to support the service.”

The vaccination roll-out comes after the borough recorded the highest coronavirus infection rate in the country.

Read more: All the latest news from Sittingbourne