Fife shopping centre to host mass Covid-19 vaccination facility

A Fife shopping centre is to host a mass Covid-19 vaccination facility.

Locals will be able to get their jabs inside the former Argos store at Kingdom Shopping Centre in Glenrothes in the months ahead.

A further site is being established at the Savoy Community Centre in Methil, while two others - at the old M&S shop in Kirkcaldy and at Fife College's Carnegie Conference Centre in Dunfermline - have already been confirmed.

A small number of existing clinics will continue to operate in more remote areas, as the vaccine is given to adults aged between 18 and 49.

The Savoy Centre will also continue to host asymptomatic testing.

The next group to receive appointments will be in the 49 to 49 age group.

Scott Gardens, NHS Fife's director of pharmacy and medicines, said: "The confirmation of our mass vaccination venues is an important milestone in the immunisation programme here in Fife, and these sites will play a pivotal role in helping offer the local population protection against Covid-19.

"As we move into this second phase of the programme and see some of the public health measures in place begin to ease, it is important that we to tailor our approach accordingly.

"In addition to enabling us to deliver higher volumes of vaccinations than our existing clinics, these new sites also offer us greater flexibility in terms of opening hours and provide the space to allow us to scale up and down the programme dependent upon vaccine supply.

"A significant amount of planning has gone on behind the scenes in recent weeks, both to identify and assess the suitability of these venues and to prepare the sites to safely manage the considerable volumes of people who will be attending.

"The imminent opening of these mass vaccination clinics is another important step in the right direction in the efforts to supress Covid-19 in Fife, and help protect local people against the effects of the virus."