The mayor of Bridport has joined the "very exclusive group of people" and received his first Covid-19 vaccination.

Councillor Ian Bark and his wife both received theirs at Bridport Medical Centre last Wednesday.

He said: "We cannot praise the staff and volunteers highly enough. From the moment we parked in the West Street car park we were guided by volunteers, who despite the extremely cold conditions, all greeted us with a smile as we walked to the Bridport Medical Centre.

"On arrival, we took our place in the queue that snaked around the car park towards the entrance. The positive spirit was clear from the expression on people's masked faces and the good-humoured conversations taking place. The line made steady progress and before we knew it, we were at the door where hands were sanitised before entering.

"Once inside, in a matter of minutes we were both in one of the consulting rooms where we received our jabs. The ladies awaiting us in the consulting rooms could not have been kinder.

Both didn't feel a thing and have not suffered a reaction since. After the jab they sat in the marquee at the back of the medical centre for 15 minutes.

Cllr Bark added: "We are truly extremely fortunate to have had the Covid-19 vaccination. On the day we had our vaccine, data published in the Financial Times from 88 locations around the world showed that at least 160,697,240 doses of coronavirus vaccines have been administered worldwide.

"Now 160 million might sound like a hug number, but relative to a current world population of 7.8billio, it means only two er cent of the people on the planet have thus far had a vaccination. There is still a very long way to go before the whole world can begin to feel safe again thanks to the vaccines.

"The uptake amongst those who have been offered it in Bridport has been extremely high. This is excellent news and I hope as the programme continues through younger age groups, that this level of uptake continues to be the case if we are to have a chance of truly getting on the disease. For all our sakes, if you are offered the opportunity to be vaccinated, please take it."

Those aged over 70 are encouraged to contact the NHS to book a Covid-19 vaccination if they have not had one yet. They can call 119 between 7am and 11pm seven days a week or visit nhs.uk

Read the mayor's full blog post here.

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