A BASINGSTOKE vaccination centre has reached a milestone after administering 50,000 Covid jabs since opening in December.

The momentous moment which happened on Friday at The Hampshire Court Hotel prompted the secretary of state for health Matt Hancock to post a congratulatory video on YouTube thanking all those involved.

As previously reported, Mr Hancock wrote to Basingstoke MP Maria Miller informing her that The Hampshire Court Hotel was one of the “best performing” vaccination centres in the country.

In his YouTube video, Mr Hancock congratulated the GP led vaccination centre for hitting 50,000 vaccinations.

He added: “After a bumpy start it’s been an absolutely brilliant process. Many thanks to everybody.”

He also thanked Mrs Miller for spreading the message to “come and get your jab” adding: “It’s good for you, it will keep you safe and it’s good for your community and it’s good for all of us because it will help us to get out of this.

“Many thanks to all three of the vaccination centres in Basingstoke it’s been a huge team effort and I’m very grateful to all involved.”

More than 23 million people in the UK have now received at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine.

The government aims to offer a first vaccine dose to about 32 million people in nine priority groups by April 15.

The programme in England is now inviting those aged 56 and above to book appointments after the first four groups were offered a jab by mid-February.

This included care home residents, those aged 70 and over, healthcare workers and people required to shield.