UK opens ten new large-scale Covid-19 vaccination centres

BRITAIN opened ten new mass vaccination centres, including a rugby ground, racecourse, food court and a cathedral, on Monday(18) to deliver Covid-19 vaccines.

With the new sites, there will be 17 such centres offering people an alternative to GP-led and hospital services, with more to follow, the National Health Service (NHS) said.

The new centres are Bournemouth International Centre, Taunton Racecourse, Blackburn Cathedral, Salt Hill Activity Centre, Slough, Norwich Foodcourt, Castle Quarter, The Lodge, Wickford, Essex, Princess Royal Sports Arena, Lincolnshire, St Helens Rugby Ground, Park and ride at Askham Bar, York and Olympic Office Centre, Wembley, London.

The new sites will help to ensure that everyone in England is in easy reach of a vaccination service, including rural parts of the country like Boston and Norwich.

These are capable of delivering thousands of jabs each week but scaling up and down according to vaccine supplies and demand.

Professor Stephen Powis, NHS England’s medical director, said: “The NHS vaccination programme has got off to a strong start with our hard-working staff delivering more than three million vaccinations while also dealing with the latest wave of coronavirus infections. This is accelerating as more vaccine supplies come on stream with more sites opening all the time so that we can protect as many people as swiftly as possible.

“The rapid progress we have already made is testament to NHS staff who are pulling out all the stops to vaccinate the most vulnerable while caring for so many people who are seriously ill with Covid. In the most challenging of circumstances we are seeing the very best of the NHS.”

There are already around 1,200 hospitals and GP-led services with newly published figures showing the NHS has delivered more than 3.79 million jabs so far, including vaccinating more than one in three people aged 80 and over.

The NHS said that more than a million letters have gone out to people aged 80 and over inviting them to make an appointment at Vaccination Centre or pharmacy service.

People will receive a health status check and a pre-vaccination assessment before they have their jab. The process should take well under an hour, it said.

"The NHS vaccination programme, the biggest in NHS history, is off to a strong start with more than three million people receiving the life-saving jab, including more than a third of those aged 80 or over," said Ruth May, chief nursing officer for England.

"We are adding more sites as more vaccine supplies become available, so that people can choose a convenient option."

The priority groups for receiving the vaccine were set by the government following advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI). The government has committed itself to a target of vaccinating all the vulnerable groups in the top JCVI categories by February 15.