Bromley Council has announced that a Covid-19 mass vaccination centre in the Great Hall of the Civic Centre is expected to be up and running by early March.
The proposed site, which has since been accepted and given the green light by NHS decision-makers, will be overseen by the Princess Royal University Hospital, Farnborough, and supported by local healthcare professionals and local volunteers.
The new facility will deliver a sharp increase in the number of vaccinations being delivered, in addition to the existing centres already operating in the borough.
Vaccinations for Covid-19 are well underway across the borough in line with the government’s priority groupings, with most over-80s and almost every resident in the borough’s care homes having now received their first dose.
The NHS is already vaccinating a growing number of over 70s and the Civic Centre site, according to the council, will greatly add to the speed and overall available capacity of the current programme.
Bromley Council Leader, Colin Smith, said: “We are delighted to be able to offer our support to the NHS and to put forward the Civic Centre as an ideal location for the new vaccination centre.
“Being in a central location, with good transport links and excellent parking provision close by, it stood out as the obvious choice locally from the outset.
“To that end, with the nearby multi-storey car park standing largely unused at present as a result of the government’s lockdown measures affecting Bromley High Street, we are also very pleased to confirm that car parking charges in the multi-storey will be suspended for all NHS staff, any volunteers assisting them at the Civic Centre and residents attending appointments, until such time as the lockdown measures are lifted and the High Street springs back to life.
“Along with our council-run rapid testing facilities and the outstanding work being undertaken by the council’s local contact tracing team, this new facility represents the latest positive step alongside partners agencies locally in the tortuous battle to stop the spread of this awful virus and ultimately get us back to a normal way of life which we all long for.”
Residents are being asked to wait to be invited for their vaccine. When it is their turn, according to government guidelines, they will be invited by the NHS either by a phone call, text or letter. Appointments are offered at either a hospital site; at general practice vaccination sites; a roving service for those unable to travel and soon the new mass vaccination centre at the Civic Centre.
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