If you are aged over 50 and have still to make an appointment for your first coronavirus vaccines, the country's top doctor today (March 25) urged everyone book soon before supplies dry up.

NHS national medical director Professor Stephen Powis called on anyone who qualifies for a jab, but has not yet received one, to book an appointment by March 29.

The call came after it was revealed that NHS staff delivered more than 3.5 million doses in the seven days to Sunday, 1.5 million up on the previous week which had also been a record.

Four in five people in the first nine priority groups have now received at least one dose since the NHS vaccination programme, the biggest in health service history, kicked off a little over 100 days ago.

Far fewer appointments will be available for first doses from next week as the bulk of available supplies are used to fully vaccinate people with a second jab.

The proportion of people aged 50-54 is up over the past week from 42% to seven in 10.

Anybody aged 50 or over can book themselves in for a first dose before 29 March online using the national booking system.

People aged 18 and over, who are clinically vulnerable, should also book themselves in for a jab this month.

The NHS made history when 90-year-old Maggie Keenan was the first recipient in the world outside a clinical trial of a Pfizer vaccine at Coventry Hospital on 8 December 2020.

Brian Pinker, 82, was the first person to be vaccinated with the Oxford/AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine on 4 January 2021 by the NHS in Oxford, where the jab was created.