COVID: RAF Delivers 3,000 Vaccines To Falkland Islands

The RAF has flown 3,000 doses of coronavirus vaccines to the Falkland Islands - the first vaccine flight to the British Overseas Territory.

An Air Force tanker aircraft flown by reservists delivered the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines on behalf of the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office.

The Falklands delivery comes after the service recently delivered about 11,000 vaccine doses to Gibraltar.

The crew departed RAF Brize Norton, in Oxfordshire, in the early hours of Monday.

On Twitter, the Ministry of Defence said the move "reaffirms the UK Government’s commitment to supporting its Overseas Territories".

Defence minister James Heappey MP has confirmed plans for thousands more doses of coronavirus vaccines to reach other British Overseas Territories in the coming days.

Mr Heappey told the Commons on Monday: "Defence has to date delivered 10,725 doses of the Pfizer vaccine to Gibraltar.

"Further deliveries are planned to the Falkland Islands and Gibraltar by the end of today (Monday 1 February) of 6,825 Pfizer doses and 3,000 AstraZeneca doses respectively.

"Defence is scoping the delivery of 65,850 further vaccine doses to Ascension Island, Gibraltar and the Falklands throughout February – and of course, we stand ready to support vaccine delivery to all of the British territories overseas."

Cover image: Crew load the RAF tanker at RAF Brize Norton (Picture: MOD).