Newspaper headlines: 'Vacc to the future' and village hall jabs

The prospect of an imminent rollout of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine is the lead for most of the papers.

"Covid hope at last", the Sun declares, while the Daily Express has the headline: "We'll be free by February". For the Daily Mirror it's "A shot at freedom".

The Daily Telegraph and the Daily Mail report that an army of more than 10,000 medics and volunteers has been recruited by the NHS to help deliver the vaccine once it's approved.

The Telegraph has learned that teams are trained and ready to begin giving the jab at sports stadiums and racecourses across the country, with a target of vaccinating a million people each week.

Village halls, community centres and other local sites overseen by GPs will also be used, it adds.

"A jab in your village hall", is the Mail's headline. A government source tells the paper: "The vaccine is the way to make us safe and get us through this pandemic. We are throwing the kitchen sink at it".

The lead in the Times makes for more sober reading. It says senior doctors have warned the NHS is in danger of being overwhelmed - with the number of coronavirus patients in hospital about to exceed the peak in the first wave of the pandemic.

Doctors in London are reported to have described their hospitals as beginning to resemble a "war zone" - and medical staff in Wales put out an urgent call for anyone with experience working in intensive care to come forward to help.

According to the Guardian, frontline NHS staff have been denied the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, leaving doctors alarmed and "scrabbling" to get immunised.

It says a survey of more than 1,300 doctors reveals almost two-thirds have still not had the vaccine. Half believe its delivery to the NHS frontline has been "ad hoc" and a third have no idea when they will be offered it.

They fear the government's decision to prioritise over-80s and care home staff over health workers has left them at risk of catching the disease, especially given the emergence of the new variant.

Brexit also features. The Telegraph reports Tory Brexiteers have pleaded for a guarantee they will be able to speak in the Commons and not their living rooms when the Brexit deal is debated on Wednesday - after the Speaker urged MPs to stay at home.

The paper says Sir Lindsay Hoyle has written to MPs encouraging them to participate remotely via Zoom. Hundreds of MPs are expected to vote by proxy, it adds.

There's widespread coverage of a National Trust report that Britain's wildlife has taken advantage of reduced human activity during the lockdowns, reclaiming several areas that would normally have been bustling with visitors.

With scant regard for social distancing and no facemasks in sight, the paper says Britain's tourist hotspots were crowded with peregrine falcons, partridges, stoats, terns and other wild creatures.

The papers' leader says the disappearance of humans has given wildlife a liberty it hasn't known for decades - to the delight of humans themselves.

Finally, the Sun announces that its agony aunt, Deidre Sanders, who it says has been a shoulder for the nation to cry on - is stepping down after 40 years.

In a farewell letter, Deidre writes that during that time, she has received somewhere between six and seven million messages from readers entrusting her with their problems, heartbreaks and joys.

Now the paper has its own advice for her: "Enjoy retirement!"

Sign up for a morning briefing direct to your inbox