Leicester's vaccination hub aiming for 1,500 jabs a day in Covid-19 response

The NHS vaccination hub at Leicester racecourse is aiming to administer 1,500 jabs a day as the fight against coronavirus across England continues at various racecourses.

Epsom was on Monday chosen as one of seven mass vaccination centres across the country and Leicester has been welcoming local people to its exhibition centre – The KUBE – for the Pfizer-BioNTech jab since November.

Leicester’s general manager David Maykels expects the hub to be used for at least six months and is pleased the venue is able to help the local community.

He said: “Our vaccination hub is going really well – it started at the end of November and will be there for at least six months and hopefully a little longer.

“We started off with the Pfizer vaccine and now will be introducing the other two vaccines. They plan to administer 1,500 vaccines a day and they’re getting towards hitting that target.

“The government has said they’re looking to get all the vulnerable people vaccinated by the end of February, so hopefully we can get back to some sort of normal if that is the case.”

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While aiding the local cause, the vaccination hub is also a boost for raising awareness of the facilities and has provided some welcome income.

Maykels added: “It’s the only bit of commercial activity we’ve had on course. We can’t do anything else so it’s great to help the community and also get a bit of income.

“It’s great for exposure, too, as there’s loads of local people who didn’t know we exist here, and certainly didn't know about our exhibition centre. People are now seeing the venue for the first time, which can only be good.

“Other tracks are doing it and we’re the perfect venues to do something like this. Some racecourses have their exhibition centres on site, which would cause issues on racedays, but we’re lucky here as that's not the case and we have had no issues.”

Beverley, Newbury and Newcastle are among other racecourses offering facilities for vaccination hubs.

Read more if you were interested in this . . .

Vaccinations under way at Epsom as track becomes one of seven mass centres

Newcastle racecourse joins the roster of Covid-19 vaccination centres

Beverley joins fight against coronavirus to serve as a vaccination centre

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