The National Health Service (NHS) is making plans to set up dozens of vaccination centres around England to prepare the public for inoculation against the coronavirus.
Photo: Sanofi Pasteur
At least 42 centres have been planned and are to be based in existing locations such as conference centres or other public buildings and the NHS is pushing to hire thousands of new staff to man them.
Derby City Council announced that Derby Arena will be the site of one such inoculation centre located within the city.
Derby City Council leader Chris Poulter told the Guardian: “The arena is a perfect venue. It has plenty of space, parking and good transport networks to serve Derby, Derbyshire and beyond.
“It’s an honour for Derby to have the opportunity to play such a critical part in any vaccination programme.”
It is expected that Boris Johnson will make this plan public during a press conference on Friday alongside NHS executive Simon Stevens.
Details of the initiative were released to the public in the Health Journal, the NHS's official news outlet.
Recent clinical tests have proven the new vaccine created by Pfizer to be 90% effective. The jab is now entering phase III tests to ensure it is safe for public use.
Other vaccines are currently undergoing different trials as well. AstraZeneca's model is currently performing well in initial tests, particularly in those more vulnerable to the virus such as the over-70s.
The inoculation centres will require extraordinary manpower in order to function at the level required.
The Health Journal states the NHS will be looking to hire 6,000 new faces in the South-East of England alone, with 5,000 more in London.
This means that NHS recruitment will have to find tens-of-thousands of frontline workers who could be on contract for several months.
Vulnerable groups, such as the elderly or sick, will be among the first issued the vaccine as a part of the second phase of the NHS's inoculation plan.
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