Covid: Derby Arena 'to become mass vaccination centre'

The first vaccinations were given out at the venue on 7 January

Derby Arena is set to be upgraded to a mass vaccination centre before the end of the month, regional health bosses have said.

The council-owned velodrome has been used to administer Covid-19 jabs since 7 January.

But operations are due to be scaled up from 25 January to deal with numbers comparable with other major centres, like Birmingham's Millennium Point.

The plan is subject to final confirmation.

'Significant numbers'

Priority patients from 30 GP practices in the city have received their vaccinations at the sports venue since it was repurposed.

Ramping up capacity would see the arena sit alongside England's seven existing mass vaccination centres at large venues in Birmingham, Bristol, London, Manchester, Newcastle, Stevenage and Surrey.

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Millennium Point has the capacity to give out 2,500 jabs a day and Derby Arena could be dealing with similar figures, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

The arena opened in 2015

Chris Clayton, chief executive of the Derby and Derbyshire Clinical Commissioning Group, said he was hoping the site would go live on Monday, January 25.

"We are just waiting for final confirmation," he said.

"Towards the end of January, we will be motoring through really significant numbers at that site.

"We recognise there will be challenges and we need to build public confidence in this programme."

Vaccinations were halted for 72 hours earlier this week when Derby Arena ran out of vaccines - a situation health bosses were aware of when it opened.

Fresh supplies arrived on Wednesday and vaccinations resumed.

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