Dawlish Community Hospital will start giving the Covid-19 vaccination on Monday (December 21).

Patients from Channel View Medical Practice, Teign Estuary Medical Group and the Dawlish Medical Group (known as Barton Surgery) will be invited to the hospital for their jabs.

It's one of the six latest GP-run vaccination sites to open in Devon, following the eight that started earlier this week.

The centres see nurses, paramedics, pharmacists and other NHS staff working alongside doctors to vaccinate people aged over 80 and care home workers, who have been identified as priority groups for a life-saving vaccination.

Dr Elizabeth Cowan, GP at Barton Surgery in Dawlish, said: "Being able to offer the coronavirus vaccination here in Dawlish is very exciting.

"Not only does it allow us to provide a much-needed service to our patients locally, but also the ability to tailor the service to meet the needs of our community.

"The Dawlish and Teignmouth GP surgeries are working very closely with the team at Dawlish Hospital to set up the service and it has been an excellent opportunity to all work together.

"Everyone has really pulled out all the stops to get things set up so quickly, and we know our community are really going to benefit from all the hard work that has already gone into, and will continue to go into, running the vaccination delivery programme."

Don't contact your GP - wait for your invitation from the NHS

Local people are still being reminded not to contact their practice or hospital to ask about an appointment – the NHS will contact you when it's your turn.

The other latest centres to open in Devon are at Beacon, Plympton, Clare House, Tiverton, Holsworthy Medical Centre, The Pavilions, Plymouth and St Leonard's Practice, Exeter.

The Plympton centre is also due to start vaccinating on Monday (21 December,) with the others beginning today (Friday 18) and Saturday 19.

The eight sites that began vaccinating patients earlier this week included Exmouth Tennis and Fitness Centre, where among the first to receive their injection were Jean Copeland, 89, and Jim Copeland, 90, of Exmouth.

They said: "We're really pleased to have had the vaccination and people should have it. We don't want the virus, especially at our age, it's killed enough people."

The Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine is complicated to deliver, with each site needing to meet stringent requirements on freezer storage, adequate space for patient observation areas post-vaccine, staffing levels to maintain safety and normal general practice activity, and capacity to run centres seven days a week, as needed.

The measures mean that not all health locations can be used to deliver the vaccine, but the NHS in Devon said it is working hard to open more centres around the county.