Asda is set to become the first supermarket to offer Covid vaccinations starting from January 25, it has been announced.
The supermarket was selected by NHS England to operate a vaccination centre from an in-store pharmacy in Birmingham, with Asda pharmacy staff administering the vaccine to priority groups identified by the NHS.
Asda president Roger Burnley said: "We are incredibly proud to provide this service and are keen to do all we can to help the NHS and Government accelerate the rollout of the vaccination programme.
"We have an extensive nationwide logistics network that could support the storage and distribution of the vaccine and our highly-trained pharmacy colleagues are experienced in delivering large vaccination programmes, having recently provided nearly 200,000 flu jabs to members of the public.
"We are on hand to provide the NHS with any practical support required so that more people can quickly receive the vaccine."
Asda said it would transforming its George department to make space for the vaccination centre - open from 8am to 8pm, seven days a week, with the capacity to administer 250 jabs a day.
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Individuals in priority groups will be given an appointment at Asda from the NHS and have the option to select the supermarket as a convenient location, reports The Mirror. You should not contact the store directly, Asda said.
The Birmingham store has been approved for the Pfizer /BioNTech vaccine, but Asda offered NHS England the full use of its 238 in-store pharmacies and qualified pharmacists to support the rollout of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine programme.
As this vaccine is easier to transport and store, it could be administered from Asda’s full network of in-store pharmacies throughout the country, the chain said.
A string of companies offered up their premises to help the Covid vaccination programme - including Brewdog.
