So far in Greater Manchester, up to 16th February, 639,128 first doses of vaccine have been administered, with 90% of over 70s having taken up the jab offer, and 10%, or 72,000 people who have not.
While medics continue to check up on those people to see if there are specific reasons why they haven't had the jab that can be overcome, the vaccination programme in the region is being hailed as a huge success. 48% of all people over 50 (including those over 70) have now been vaccinated in Greater Manchester.
However, Greater Manchester Mayor, Andy Burnham, revealed at his press conference this afternoon that there is a huge amount of spare capacity at the mass vaccination centre at the Etihad that is not being utilised, and called on the Government to open up the booking system to over 50 year olds.
"What we are seeing is many people now in the top age range are choosing to go more local, when offered the choice of the two" he said "and consequently the utilisation rate of the mass vaccination centre at the Etihad has dropped quite low, below fifty per cent and much lower than that on some days.
"I would say to the Government that it's an excellent facility, full of dedicated staff, and we believe there is a really strong case to use that capacity to the full" he explained, adding that as far as he knew, there was no problem with vaccine supplies to the centre.
Burnham presented two options, with the favoured option being to open up the national booking system to people over fifty "because it seems to us that people who are younger with more mobility are much more likely to use the mass vaccination centre" he said.
The other option is to allow Greater Manchester itself to call up people but the former path is the simpler, to avoid what the GM Mayor called a "growing issue of low utilisation of the mass vaccination centre."
He added that opening the centre up to over 50s would also address the case for accelerating vaccinations for people in Greater Manchester who live in areas of lowest life expectancy.
"Amongst those over 50s there are many people who will have poorer health at a younger age than their counterparts in other parts of the country, and many of them are out at work in front line professionals which also poses an additional risk to them" he said "So if the mass vaccination centre was opened up to over 50s, many of whom are out at work and perhaps not in the best of health, they would be able to take up those slots that are not currently being used.
"Every day that goes by where we don't have a high utilisation rate obviously has lost vaccination slots that we won't be able to get back" he concluded "It's becoming clear now that we need to open up the mass vaccination centre to people who are perhaps younger and more mobile..."
More details on the press conference to follow....click here
For details on the latest coronavirus statistics see earlier Salford Star article - click here
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