The rollout of the country’s coronavirus vaccination programme appears to be off to a good start.
Nearly 4 million people have had their first jab – including the over-80s, care home residents and NHS and social care staff.
From this week the vaccine will start to be offered to two more priority groups where supply and capacity allows: the over-70s and the ‘extremely clinically vulnerable’.
For Ilise Gunder and her partner Allan Pearson – both of whom fall within the latter category – it can’t come soon enough.
The couple, from Bamford in Rochdale, have been ‘literally housebound’ since they began shielding last March and are desperate to get their lives back.