Mass vaccination centres will open in Norwich Food Court and The Lodge in Wickford tomorrow

The government says they expect tens of millions of people to be vaccinated by the spring Credit: ITV News

More than one million people aged 80 or over have been invited to book a coronavirus jab at ten new vaccination centres due to open tomorrow.

The ten new mass-vaccination sites include Norwich Foodcourt and The Lodge in Wickford in Essex. Once opened, it will mean there will be at least one mass vaccination centre in each health region in the country. 

The other centre in the Anglia region is already up and running in Stevenage.  

The NHS says the immunisation programme is the biggest in health service history.

There are now also 1,000 GP-led services and more than 250 hospitals offering coronavirus vaccinations, with dozens of new high street pharmacies stores also jabbing people by the end of the coming week.

People aged 80 or over living up to a 45-minute drive from the centres are being written to with the option of choosing to arrange a vaccination there or at a pharmacy site.

The mass testing centre will be in the food court at the Castle Quarter in Norwich Credit: ITV Anglia

People can also choose to wait to be contacted shortly by their local GP-led vaccination service.

 The NHS sent out 641,000 invitations last week and another 380,000 are landing on doormats this weekend. Another half a million will go out this week.

Appointments are staggered to allow for social distancing and people are being asked not to turn up early to avoid creating queues.

Ruth May, chief nursing officer for England, said: “The NHS vaccination programme, the biggest in NHS history, is off to a strong start with more than three million people receiving the life-saving jab, including more than a third of those aged 80 or over.

 “We are adding more sites as more vaccine supplies become available, so that people can chose a convenient option, with around a million invites sent over the last week for those aged 80 and over.

 “Having worked alongside clinicians at my local hospital I know how tough it is for our staff treating an increasing number of seriously ill people with Covid-19 – so I cannot stress enough how important it is that everyone plays their part by practicing social distancing and following the national guidance.”

 The 10 new sites opening from Monday (18th January) are:

  • Bournemouth International Centre

  • Taunton Racecourse

  • Blackburn Cathedral

  • Salt Hill Activity Centre, Slough

  • Norwich Foodcourt

  • The Lodge, Wickford, Essex

  • Princess Royal Sports Arena, Lincolnshire

  • St Helens Rugby Ground

  • Park and ride at Askham Bar, York

  • Network House, Wembley, London

Each centre will be capable of delivering thousands of jabs each week.

The NHS is reminding people that there is no need to contact them and that people will be invited when it is their turn.

People cannot get vaccinated by just turning up.