THE vaccine roll-out in Cheshire East remains on track to meet national deadlines, according to one senior NHS official.

Clare Watson, Accountable Officer of NHS Cheshire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) told a meeting of Cheshire West council's Covid-19 outbreak board on Wednesday this week that the programme was in line to hit remaining national targets.

The government hopes 32 million people in the top nine priority groups will be vaccinated by April 15, with every person aged over 18 offered a coronavirus vaccination by the end of July.

The CCG chief said: "April 15 is not that far ahead but we are confident of hitting that target and we have been working to break down those patients that have not been vaccinated by primary care networks, so they can provide assurance to us they are targeting and working with those hard to reach patients.

"We are now in cohort 8 (aged 56-59). That is the last, but one before the April deadline. It's really an excellent performance for all primary care networks with all cohorts.

"We are also making provision for the fact that some second doses will need to be done over the bank holiday weekend at Easter."

Last week, NHS England data showed that four in ten Cheshire and Merseyside adults had had their first dose of the vaccine.

PM Boris Johnson says a third of the entire adult population has now been vaccinated.