Pharmacies in Britain will begin administering the Covid-19 vaccination, the government said, as it seeks to accelerate the rollout of shots to millions of people a week to meet an ambitious delivery target.

High street pharmacies such as Boots and Superdrug will begin offering the shots, with two hundred community drugstores due to be included over the next fortnight, joining hospitals, doctors’ surgeries and seven large-scale centres in administering vaccines, Reuters reported.

“Pharmacies sit at the heart of local communities and will make a big difference to our rollout programme by providing even more local, convenient places for those that are eligible to get their jab,” health minister Matt Hancock said.