THE North-East and Cumbria are among 50 hospital hubs taking part in the first wave of the Covid-19 vaccine programme.

The Newcastle Upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, which manages the Royal Victoria Infirmary and the Freeman Hospital, and the North Cumbria Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust, which runs the Cumberland Infirmary, Carlisle and West Cumberland Hospital, Whitehaven, have both been named.

The news of the UK becoming the first country in the world to have a clinically authorised coronavirus vaccine was welcomed across the Tyne Valley, with MP Guy Opperman describing it an 'incredible feat of medical and scientific ingenuity' and 'light at the end of the tunnel.'

As the vaccine is readied for roll out on Tuesday, people aged 80 and over, care workers and NHS workers will be first to receive the jab.

The hospitals taking part:

Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust

Milton Keynes University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

East Suffolk And North Essex NHS Foundation Trust

North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust

James Paget University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Norfolk And Norwich University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Cambridge University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

East and North Hertfordshire NHS Trust

Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust

Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust

Croydon Health Services NHS Trust

St George’s University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust – Denmark Hill

King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust – Princess Royal University Hospital

Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust

Chesterfield Royal Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

University Hospitals Coventry And Warwickshire NHS Trust

Royal Stoke Hospital

Northampton General Hospital NHS Trust

University Hospitals of Derby and Burton NHS Foundation Trust

United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust

Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust

Shrewsbury And Telford Hospital NHS Trust

Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

North Cumbria Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust

Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust

The Newcastle Upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust

South Tees NHS Trust

Wirral University Teaching Hospital

Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Countess of Chester Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust

Stockport NHS Foundation Trust

Blackpool Teaching Hospital

Lancashire Teaching Hospital Trust

Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust – Wexham Park Hospital

Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

East Kent Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust – William Harvey Hospital

Brighton And Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust – Royal Sussex County Hospital

Portsmouth University Hospitals Trust

Royal Surrey NHS Foundation Trust

Yeovil District Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

Dorset County Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust

University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust

Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

North Bristol NHS Trust