One of the first pensioners to be vaccinated against coronavirus says people ‘very silly’ to turn down jab

Joyce Dowd reported feeling a little stiff but fine after the vaccination

A community vaccination programme run by GPs started Monday  (Getty Images)

Joyce Dowd is 94 years old and has recently become a great great grandmother. She received the vaccination in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, at a new GP-run centre.

Now that she has been vaccinated, Ms Dowd intends to visit her great-great grandchild, born during the pandemic, for the first time.

Her fourth great-great grandchild is expected in February but Ms Dowd has said that she will only visit the children when she is sure that it is safe to do so.

She was keen to point out that “you’ve got to think safety-wise” saying that she would “rather them be safe and keep away because it’s asking for trouble, isn’t it?”

Ms Dowd reported feeling fine after having the jab Wednesday morning. She said that it felt a little stiff but that she was not worried.

"I'll see them when times are good," she said. "I'd rather them be safe and keep away because it's asking for trouble, isn't it?

She added: "if people don't have it done, they're being very silly. At our age you can pick anything up."

The 94-year-old has decided not to mix with her family at Christmas for fear of the risks but looks forward to seeing them when she can do so safely.

Over 130,000 people in the UK have so far been vaccinated since the vaccination programme began. Minister Nadhim Zahawi, who is in charge of vaccine rollout, tweeted 137,897 people had been vaccinated in the first week across the UK.

Mr Zahawi described it as a "really good start." A community vaccination programme is being run by GPs and started Monday, with around 200 local vaccination clinics expected to be running by the end of this week.

A Doncaster GP, Dr Kate Mansfield, who is the clinical director of Doncaster Central Primary Care Network said that this week has been “crazy” but that she is “so proud to be part of it”

Dr Mansfield said that 975 jabs will be administered at the centre in the next three days and is keen to reassure everyone about how safe the vaccine is.

The GP wants to encourage a high take-up of it and said “I feel like it's our role to put the true facts out there as we know them and give people the right information so that they can make an informed decision. I know I'll be having the vaccine and I'll be encouraging my family to have the vaccine."