Covid: Half a million over-80s invited to new mass vaccination centres

Letters sent out to those most at risk who have not yet had first jab

More than half a million people aged 80 and over will be invited to seven new mass vaccination centres this week, NHS England has said.

The first letters were being delivered this weekend as the government sought to rapidly accelerate the national coronavirus immunisation campaign.

Boris Johnson has set a target of vaccinating 14 million of those most at risk from Covid-19 in the UK by mid-February, at a rate of more than 2 million each week.

So far around 1.5 million people have been given their first dose of either the Pfizer/BioNTech or Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccines. A third vaccine from Moderna has been approved for use but supplies are not expected to arrive until March at the earliest.

The seven new vaccination centres – each based in one of the seven NHS regions – are intended to act as a “convenient alternative” to the 1,000-plus existing sites at GP surgeries and hospital.

They include the NHS Nightingale Hospital at the Excel Centre in London, Epsom racecourse in Surrey, The Centre for Life in Newcastle, Manchester Tennis Centre, and Millennium Point in Birmingham, Ashton Gate in Bristol and Robertson House in Stevenage.

NHS England said the first invitations were being sent to people aged 80 or over who have not yet received a vaccine and live less than 45 minutes drive away from one of the seven new centres. Recipients are urged to reserve a slot either over the phone or through the online national booking service.

On arrival they will be greeted by volunteers and directed to carparks before being registered, given a health status check and a pre-vaccination assessment.

After being given the jab, they will be observed for 15 minutes to ensure they do not suffer a reaction. NHS England said the whole process would take well under an hour.

Nurses, doctors, physios, carers and other local NHS staff are also being vaccinated at the centres.

The prime minister said: “Our plan is to vaccinate as many people as possible across the entire United Kingdom as quickly as we can.

“There are deeply challenging weeks ahead, but today signals another significant step forward in the race to protect the public, and defeat the virus.”

The NHS national medical director, Professor Stephen Powis, said: “With more vaccine supplies now coming on stream we are rapidly accelerating the programme and these large scale NHS vaccination centres are an important new way for people to get the life-saving jab, alongside our GP and hospital services.

“NHS staff are under huge pressure ... but are still pulling out all the stops to deliver Covid jabs as swiftly as we can.”

Officials said that more than 80,000 people who have trained to deliver the vaccines will be deployed as the programme expands over the coming weeks.

Further vaccination centres are expected to open by the end of the month, along with hundreds of new GP and hospital vaccination services. Some pharmacies will also start piloting administering injections.

The NHS is also giving GPs an extra £10 for every care home resident that they vaccinate this month as part of a drive to protect them.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock said: "Through our vaccine delivery plan we have already provided a first dose to more than 1.2 million people in England and we are mobilising the government, NHS and the armed forces as part of a massive national effort.

"The vaccination centres are an important milestone and will help accelerate the rollout further."