A mass vaccination hub has opened its doors in Islington to ramp up the national effort against coronavirus.
The Business Design Centre – one of the capital’s most popular exhibition venues -will be used by University College London Hospital (UCLH) to speed up the borough’s roll out of Covid-19 jabs.
Normally host to hundreds of annual conferences, the venue has been converted by the National Health Service (NHS) to have 24 booths and over 200 socially-distanced chairs.
On its launch, about 200 people received a jab. But increased vaccine supply will mean the 40-plus staff will be able to immunise 3,000 people a day. It comes as England doubles its delivery rate from about 400,000 to 800,000.
We're delighted that local leaders from a variety of different faiths could join us at an event at the newly opened vaccination centre at the Business Design Centre in Islington earlier today.
1/3 pic.twitter.com/t6DLdbmFuj
— UCLH (@uclh) March 15, 2021
“We were absolutely delighted that our offer to donate venue space at the Business Design Centre was welcomed by the government and NHS,” says Business Design Centre Chief Executive Dominic Jones.
“Playing our part in the national effort to support the vaccination programme is of vital importance in the country’s recovery and that we can lend our expertise in facilitating this was similarly received by our team and clients alike.”
UCLH Director of Strategy Laura Churchward said: “We are delighted that the large scale vaccine centre at Islington’s Business Design Centre is opening and I would like to thank everyone involved in setting it up.”
Councillor Richard Watts, Leader of Islington Council, commented: “Islington’s amazing community has pulled together and supported each other throughout the pandemic. Now we can all play our part in defeating this terrible disease by getting vaccinated.”
Now I can finally post these photos of the new @uclh mass #CovidVaccine centre at @TheBDC Islington Business Design Centre… the embargo during our “soft open” has been killing me! pic.twitter.com/kjoaWPLVSZ
— Prof Ed Wild ? (@ProfEdWild) March 12, 2021
During World War Two, the hall – which opened in 1862 – was commandeered by the war cabinet and in 1943 became the nation’s Parcels Depot following the demolition of Mount Pleasant.
Islington now has four vaccine centres, including several pop-up locations such as Finsbury Park Mosque which on Tuesday was visited by the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall.
We were delighted to welcome HRH the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall @ClarenceHouse today on their visit to a new NHS vaccine pop-up clinic that has been put into action at our mosque.
Read more about their visit on our website: https://t.co/PC8NwbLazb pic.twitter.com/evACK73JMq
— Finsbury Park Mosque (@FPMosque) March 16, 2021
 to speed up the borough’s roll out of Covid-19 jabs.){kind=link}