Vaccination rates in Somerset are top in the country as figures show 48.2 per cent of the population has received both doses of the Covid-19 vaccine.

Rates in Somerset are also highest for first vaccinations – as 75.5 per cent of people aged 16 have now been given their first dose.

In North Somerset, 45.9 per cent of people aged 16 and over have received both doses, while 74.5 per cent of the adult population have been given their first dose.

North Somerset’s executive member for health, councillor Mike Bell, has praised the local vaccination programme, but urged people to continue following Covid guidelines to ensure case rates remain low.

He said: “In North Somerset, we are one of the best performing areas in terms of vaccination rate.

“The NHS has done a fantastic job locally - more than two thirds of the adult population have had their first dose, and one third have had their second dose so far, which is among the best in the country - and I have every confidence the rate of progress will carry on.

“Our Covid rates were steadily falling during the lockdown in January, and since reopening our case rate has continued to fall, so we are now among the lowest in the region.”

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North Somerset’s case rate for the week ending May 15 is 5.6 per 100,000 people - one of the lowest in the country.

In line with Government advice, the period between vaccinations for older residents has been reduced from 12 to eight weeks to give people more protection against the Indian variant, which has been found in Bath and North East Somerset (BANES) and Wiltshire council areas.

Cllr Bell stressed that its work with local public health teams, North Somerset's test and trace programme and its community testing scheme are helping the authority to keep Covid rates low.

More: More than 50,000 vaccinations administered in Worle after 'phenomenal' response to rollout.

Cllr Bell added: “I have every confidence we’ll be able to keep things under control, but we've got to be realistic, we will get variants.

"The key thing is to tackle that effectively and not let things spiral out of control.

"That's why we keep saying we’ve got to continue doing the right things like hand washing, face covering and minimising contact with others so we can keep our rates down."