Lionel Blair, 92, receives the first of two COVID-19 vaccinations

Veteran star Lionel Blair, 92, has received the first of two COVID vaccine jabs. 

Since the vaccine was rolled out last week, the highest risk groups have been given the jabs and on Wednesday, the entertainer attended the NHS vaccine centre, set up in the grounds of the horse racing course at Epsom, Surrey.

After being filmed beaming while getting the jab, he later said: ‘I couldn’t believe it when they called me. It’s next week and then the next one is in January’ and here I am. I’m just … thinking, thank God I live here.’

Lionel looked delighted in the video as he was tended to by a nurse, who pulled his sleeve up and administered the jab, which he admitted was ‘fine’. 

Lionel went on: ‘I’m hoping it’s going to make me live a bit longer! And seeing my grandchildren and children growing up. The whole thing means a great deal to me…

‘My back is the only thing that is weak. My doctor says it’s because of all the dancing in my career.’ I couldn’t wait for them to phone, I thought, ‘How do you get in touch?’

Lionel is an actor, choreographer, tap dancer and television presenter and is best known in the UK for presenting the quiz programme Name That Tune, which ran from  1976 to 1988. He appeared on Celebrity Big Brother in 2014. 

His news come after officials claimed that 140,000 Britons have been vaccinated against coronavirus in the first seven days of the roll out, in an announcement made amid mounting pressure on Number 10 to publish the numbers.

Vaccine minister Nadhim Zahawi said 137,897 people have had Pfizer/BioNTech’s jab so far, including 108,000 in England, 18,000 in Scotland, 7,897 in Wales and 4,000 in Northern Ireland.

Mr Zahawi — who was only able to provide precise figures for Wales — said this was a ‘good start’ and promised more would get the jab when more centres opened.

Department of Health bosses later repeated Mr Zahawi’s claim and failed to provide exact counts for anywhere except Wales. Officials insisted the tally was ‘provisional and subject to change’. Matt Hancock said: ‘This is just the start.’

The UK’s largest ever vaccination programme began on December 8, with the Health Secretary promising ‘millions’ would get the jab before the end of the year in hope of finally ending the pandemic.

But at the current speed it will take another six weeks for one million people to get vaccinated.

The first week of Britain’s vaccine roll-out saw fifty hospitals geared up to administer doses. GP practices and a handful of purpose-built inoculation clinics started to give out jabs yesterday.

The programme has already been swamped by IT glitches forcing many doctors to turn to pen and paper, it was claimed today. When some doctors tried to log jabs in the system they received an ‘infrastructure issue’ message, leaving them unable to digitally record vaccinations.

A Government source told Politico that ‘no one has a f***ing clue’ how many Britons have received the jab, amid fury over the lack of statistics.