MORE than 5.3 million vaccine doses have been delivered in the West Midlands, with 10 million people now vaccinated across the wider Midlands area, figures show.

Sutton Coldfield is leading the way as the town hall delivers thousands of first and second jabs, aided by an army of medical professionals and volunteers.

Tens of thousands of people have now been vaccinated at the town’s iconic building.

Dr Rahul Dubb, from Sutton Coldfield Group Practice, the local GP leading on vaccinations, worked with the Royal Sutton Coldfield Town Hall management team, University Hospitals Birmingham, the Town Council, MP Andrew Mitchell and other key figures to enable the site to open at the beginning of February.

The 5.3 million figure for the West Midlands is a major milestone and comes as anyone over 30 can now book an appointment for their jab.

Over the next few days, one million people across the country aged 30 and 31 will be invited via text message.

Birmingham’s director of public health said reaching a younger age group was important to protect them against variants of the virus.

“What we are seeing from across the world where we have these new variants, is that it’s a younger audience ending up in hospital – the people who are vaccinated are protected and the younger age groups are starting to end up in A&E.

“The faster we can vaccinate everyone the more protected we are against these new variants,” he said.

He said the success story of reaching millions of people in the region was down to giving people access to get vaccinated.

“It’s the entire system working together to put forward the vaccine in a way that gets to people and gives them the chance to protect themselves from a third wave,” he added.