All the locations of new Covid vaccination hubs to open next week revealed
7 January 2021, 06:57 | Updated: 7 January 2021, 08:04
Find out about the seven centres turned into mass coronavirus vaccine hubs in England.
As the UK gets used to a third lockdown this week, the race is on to roll out the Covid vaccinations as quickly as possible.
And in a bid to speed things up, now the locations of England's new coronavirus vaccination hubs have been revealed.
The government vowed to inject around 14 million vulnerable people by mid-February, and has converted seven large venues into vaccination centres to do so.
Prime minister Boris Johnson's official spokesman confirmed they include:
- ExCel Centre in London
- Robertson House in Stevenage
- Centre for Life in Newcastle
- Etihad Tennis Centre in Manchester
- Epsom Downs Racecourse in Surrey
- Ashton Gate Stadium in Bristol
- Millennium Point in Birmingham
These conference centres will work alongside 775 GP-led centres and 207 hospital sites that will also be set up by the end of the week.
Those who are most vulnerable will receive a letter inviting them to get their vaccination in the coming weeks.
A spokesperson for the PM said on Wednesday: "They are opening next week.
"It may be the case that some open on a different day to others, but they will all open next week."
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According to reports, there are a handful of other sites also under consideration, including Leicester Racecourse and Derby Arena, the Black Country Living Museum and Villa Park.
More than 1.3 million people in the UK have already been vaccinated, with the government aiming to cover everyone in England's four top priority groups by mid February.
In order to achieve this, around two million people will need to be vaccinated per week.
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Mr Johnson said the national lockdown could start to be eased when these numbers are met, with February 15 being the earliest provisional date to review the restrictions.
Speaking at a Downing Street press conference on Wednesday, The PM said: "With Pfizer and Oxford/AstraZeneca combined – as of this afternoon - we have now vaccinated over 1.1 million people in England and over 1.3 million across the UK.
"And that includes more than 650,000 people over 80 - which is 23 per cent of all the over 80s in England.
"And that means that nearly 1 in 4 of one of the most vulnerable groups will have in 2 to 3 weeks – all of them - a significant degree of immunity."
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