Landlords of vacant shops could play a crucial role in the national effort to vaccinate the public against Covid-19, as the government lines up around 46 commercial sites to serve as initial NHS vaccine centres across England.
With launches expected in a matter of days, industry sources expect the number will grow to 300 venues in early 2021, predicting that the total number will eventually reach around 700.
Major venues on standby to host the first centres include Derby Arena, as confirmed by Derby City Council, and Westfield’s Stratford City shopping centre, as discussed in a Havering London Borough Council health and wellbeing board meeting earlier this week.
Retail parks and shopping centres are under consideration as well as museums, conference centres, sports arenas and other types of leisure locations.
Finding spaces that are accessible and offer broadband connectivity – with scope for cold storage – are among the priorities, which is why retail parks in particular could play a major role.
Each site will measure around 3,000 sq ft, but larger spaces of up to 20,000 sq ft are also being considered. Those larger locations would each contain smaller hubs providing spaces for key workers, administering the vaccine and recovery areas, among other purposes.
The mass vaccination centres would occupy the spaces for roughly a year.
It is understood that most landlords are preparing to gift spaces, requesting only small amounts to cover rates payments.
These centres are likely to form the second part of the NHS’s deployment strategy, with primary care and GP-led sites set to issue treatments in the first instance.
The UK government has been stepping up efforts for a mass vaccination programme. A Covid-19 vaccine has yet to receive approval, but two treatments – from Pfizer and Moderna – have been found to be more than 90% effective. A third Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine recorded an efficacy rate of up to 90%.
The Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England did not respond to requests for comment.
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