Editor: Give ourselves a pat on back and enjoy good company

This fair place has the highest uptake of the coronavirus vaccine of any of England’s major cities, according to health bosses.

What a testament to common sense but also the dedication and absolute brilliance of the health workers here.

They have not only supported us all the way through this hideous pandemic. They have taken time to explain why vaccinations matter to those of us who were fearful, they have answered thousands of worried questions and they have done it all with a smile.

All the while, they have jabbed and double jabbed our way towards normality.

The cherry on the cake is that they were joined by an army of unpaid volunteers who disarmed us with their enthusiasm and turned the biggest vaccination programme that any of us have ever seen into a well-oiled machine.

And so here we are, officially recognised as doing the best to keep ourselves safe through a vaccination which we could only have dreamt of a year ago.

Isn’t that incredible? The anti-vaxxers are in a very tiny minority, fortunately. Those who are still too afraid to have the jab are also relatively small in number but huge efforts are going into working with them until they feel comfortable enough to have the vaccine – for all our sakes. It is really encouraging to see the work being put in to make sure everyone has the same access to vaccines and those neighbourhoods with lower figures being targeted with information as well as extra support.

That’s why an impressive 74 per cent of all over 18s in Sheffield have received at least one Covid vaccination.

On top of that, 66.3 per cent have received both vaccines.

We are a long way from normal and the figures are still worrying. I don’t feel comfortable without a mask in shops and I still try to keep a safe distance – no matter what the government says. But these figures show we’re all pulling together metaphorically to make sure team Sheffield looks after every single one of us. Nobody enjoyed lockdown and the more care we take, the less likely it is to return. So enjoy the company of those we’ve missed and let’s keep at number one.