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Coronavirus: Mass vaccination centres are opening in England

man-being-given-vaccine.Image source, Getty Images
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Those aged 70 and over are being prioritised for the vaccine

Seven mass vaccination centres opened in England on Monday and many general practitioners (GPs), hospitals and pharmacies will also begin offering the vaccine to the public later this week.

It's all part of the government's big plans to get as many people in the UK as possible vaccinated by the middle of February. It's hoping to give the vaccine to 13 million people in the top four priority groups over the next month.

"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," said the government's health minister Matt Hancock.

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

The government's vaccination programme has been described as the biggest in the history of the NHS.

Which groups are being prioritised for the vaccine first?

People in England who are being offered the vaccine first are:

  • residents in care homes and their carers

  • all those aged 80 and over and frontline health and social care workers

  • people aged 75 and over

  • those aged 70 and over and clinically extremely vulnerable people

Where are the mass vaccination centres located?

Image source, PA Media
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The Ashton Gate Stadium in Bristol is one of the seven new mass vaccination centres

The seven mass vaccination sites have been set up across England in order to provide access to as many people as possible. The current centre locations are:

  • Millennium Point, Birmingham

  • Ashton Gate, Bristol

  • ExCel Centre, London

  • Manchester Tennis and Football Centre

  • Centre for Life, Newcastle-upon-Tyne

  • Robertson House, Stevenage

  • Epsom Downs Racecourse, Surrey

The new centres will be able to give thousands of vaccines to people every week and several more vaccination sites are expected to follow, according to NHS England.

With many smaller sites also opening this week, around 1200 places in total will soon be able to provide people living in England with the vaccine.

Why aren't children getting the vaccine?

Media caption,

Coronavirus: Meet the experts behind 'brilliant' Covid-19 vaccine

Last year, the government announced children wouldn't be on the list to get the coronavirus vaccine.

It's because children are very unlikely to be severely ill if they do catch Covid-19 compared to adults, especially those in the highest priority groups.

The vaccines that are currently available have also not been tested on children.

However, both Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna have recently started conducting trials for their vaccines on young people aged 12 and over to get a better understanding of their impacts on children.