Vaccinations underway at Newcastle's Centre for Life

Rachel Scott, 33 from Gosforth after receiving her Covid-19 vaccine along with other health and social care workers at the Life Science Centre International Centre for Life in Newcastle, one of the seven mass vaccination centres, which will open on Monday to the general public as the government continues to ramp up the vaccination programme against Covid-19.
Health and social care workers received their vaccines at the Centre for Life in Newcastle, one of the seven mass vaccination centres across the country. Credit: PA Images

Social care workers recieved Covid-19 jabs at the Centre for Life in Newcastle over the weekend.

The site has been transformed into a mass vaccination site, one of seven across England.

NHS England has confirmed that the first 130,000 letters inviting the over-80s to sign up for a jab at the centres have been sent.

The government is preparing to ramp up the vaccination programme, targeting 14 million inoculations by the middle of February.

Health and medical workers queue outside the Centre For Life in Newcastle. Credit: PA Images

Letters have been sent to people living within a 45-minute drive of the Centre for Life. Appointments can be arranged over the phone or through a national booking website.

The Prime Minister said: "Our plan is to vaccinate as many people as possible across the entire United Kingdom as quickly as we can.

"And with more than 1,000 vaccination sites across the country, including seven new mass vaccination centres, we will help protect hundreds of thousands of vulnerable people over the comings weeks as we accelerate towards offering 12 million people the jab in England by the middle of February."

A nurse draws up a Pfizer BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine before it is administered at the Centre For Life in Newcastle. Credit: PA Images

The regional centres - which include Birmingham’s Millennium Point, the Manchester Tennis and Football Centre and Epsom racecourse - were chosen to ensure as many people as possible can reach a vaccination hub, NHS England said.