Covid: Second Lincolnshire mass vaccination centre to open

Large-scale vaccinations are due to begin at the site from Tuesday

The Lincolnshire Showground will become a mass vaccination centre, health bosses have announced.

The site, just north of Lincoln, will begin large-scale vaccinations from Tuesday.

The new centre is in addition to the Princess Royal Sports Arena in Boston, which opened in January.

Officials said it would allow local people to get their jabs more quickly, with both sites targeting those in priority groups.

Maz Fosh, chief executive of Lincolnshire Community Health Services NHS Trust, which runs the sites, said she was "incredibly proud" of everyone involved in making it happen in such a short space of time.

'Vaccinated quickly'

She said Lincolnshire was one of only a handful of areas to have two large sites due to it being "a very large dispersed county".

"We want to get as many people vaccinated as quickly as possible and this is going to enable us to do that," she said.

Ms Fosh said the vaccine had brought a sense of relief, and she was delighted to announce that more than 80% of people aged over 80 in the county had received their first dose.

The county also has two hospital hubs and a number of local vaccination centres run by GP networks.

The trust said it planned to introduce a new mobile vaccination service to offer jabs to homeless and housebound people.

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A programme to offer a first dose of the vaccine to care homes for the elderly was completed last week, with tens of thousands of jabs given out across more than 200 sites.

Infection rates have also fallen in the county and in Lincoln now stand at approximately 234.6 cases per 100,000 people in the week to 27 January.

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