Covid-19: Bristol City's Ashton Gate Stadium planned as vaccination HQ

Ashton Gate is mentioned in an NHS report as the chosen location for coronavirus vaccinations

Bristol's biggest sports stadium has been earmarked as a site for mass coronavirus vaccinations.

Ashton Gate, home of Bristol City FC and the Bristol Bears rugby team, will become the regional vaccination centre for the city and surrounding area.

It is predicted as many 110,000 people per week could be be vaccinated there, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS).

Regulators have yet to approve a vaccine.

If one is approved the Ashton Gate programme would prioritise people over 50, and frontline health workers.

The plan was in a report presented to University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Trust (UHBW) board on Friday.

Robert Woolley, chief executive of UHBW, which runs the Bristol Royal Infirmary, Bristol Children's Hospital and Weston General, told board members preparations were "moving very fast."

"It [vaccine approval] is subject to Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Authority approval but if that is fast tracked as we expect then we are gearing up to be able to start vaccinating staff and any other priorities that are advised to us nationally in December."

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According to the report, Ashton Gate would be open 12 hours a day, seven days a week and the programme would be overseen by North Bristol NHS Trust (NBT).

Patients from Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire would be vaccinated at the stadium.

Jenny Bowker, head of primary care development for the Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire CCG, said that everyone over 50 and other high-risk groups would be seen first, with over-80s and care home residents and staff at the front of the queue.

Addressing South Gloucestershire Council's Health Scrutiny Committee on 25 November, she said GPs should be ready "within weeks" to take part in vaccinations, although it was not certain which vaccine would be available first.