Covid-19: Stoke-on-Trent vaccinations start

Alan Stevenson from Blythe Bridge is the first person to be vaccinated in Stoke-on-Trent

The first Covid-19 vaccinations have started in Stoke-on-Trent.

The Royal Stoke University Hospital delayed rolling out the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine by one day to ensure enough people had appointments and doses were not wasted.

Great-grandfather Alan Stevenson, 81, from Blythe Bridge, was given the injection shortly after 09:00 GMT.

Michelle Rhodes, chief nurse at the site, said it was a "very exciting day".

"Everyone is so excited," she said. "It's such a big day for everyone, we've planned everything to the nth degree.

"It really will make a difference to the whole population and the staff who have been working so hard to get this right for out patients, it finally feels like a light out of the tunnel."

The Royal Stoke Hospital delayed giving out the vaccine by one day to ensure doses were not wasted

On Tuesday, Margaret Keenan become the first person in the world to be vaccinated outside of clinical trials.

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University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust took delivery of 975 doses of the vaccine on Monday and will be administering them over the next five days.

Ms Rhodes said: "We'll be doing the over-80s and care home workers and then some of our staff who are vulnerable themselves or are working in highly vulnerable areas."

At the scene: Jennie Aitken, BBC Radio Stoke

So the signs and the screens were up, the nurses in place, and most importantly the vaccines were out of the freezer and ready to go.

There was a round of applause for Alan Stevenson when that first needle went in and he told me afterwards he was looking forward to getting back to normal life and seeing his family properly again.

Chief Nurse Michelle Rhodes was emotional - she told me she felt overwhelmed at the importance of this huge step, after all the staff have been through.

The nurses referred to this as the "precious" vaccine and said it was extremely fragile and delicate, unlike many other vaccines they have to handle which come in pre-filled syringes.