Covid vaccination centre closes for horse race

Local health team was reportedly aware scheduled race would go ahead as planned

A Covid-19 vaccination centre set up at a racecourse in southeast England is temporarily shutting on Wednesday to allow a race to go ahead — just days after the facility opened.

The vaccine hub at Newbury Racecourse in Berkshire opened last Thursday following a test run but will close for 24 hours today so a scheduled race can take place.

It comes after data published by the government revealed that the number of people who have received their first vaccine dose in the UK had dropped for the third consecutive day.

Current guidelines state that horse racing is permitted to continue during lockdown because it is classed as an elite sport.

But people are only allowed to leave their homes for essential purposes such as work and exercise, meaning there will be no spectators at the race.

Newbury Racecourse said it had already informed the NHS body responsible for running the vaccination centre that the race would go ahead as planned.

Berkshire West NHS Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) chair Dr Abid Irfan previously suggested that allowing races to go ahead was part of the deal the CCG struck with Newbury Racecourse to open the vaccine site.

He told West Berkshire Council's Local Outbreak Engagement Board on Monday: "If there's a race day then the racecourse has said we can't be on site.

"We weren't quite sure of race days going ahead... but we will sort it once we've got the dates pinned down."

The BBC reported on Tuesday that another race in February and four in March are due to take place at Newbury. Those events are no longer visible on the race course’s website.

A spokeswoman for Berkshire West CCG said: "Local NHS staff are working hard to continue to deliver vaccinations throughout the week and into the weekend, and we are working with Newbury Racecourse so vaccinations can continue to take place safely on race days in future."

A spokeswoman for Newbury Racecourse said: "We have made provision for it so it is not hampering the vaccination process. The vaccination centre opened last week and the NHS was made aware of the race day.

"We have an abundance of space but a decision was made we would not operate both the race day and the vaccination centre this week but that is being reviewed so both may be open in the future."

Nine GP practices in Newbury and the surrounding districts came together to open the "mini" mass vaccination centre, which can administer 1,500 shots per day, according to Dr Ifran.

It is one of a number of sites that have opened across the UK in recent weeks as Britain undertakes the biggest inoculation programme in its history.

With hopes of ending a third national lockdown, prime minister Boris Johnson earlier this month pledged that everyone in the top four risk categories — some 15 million people — would receive their first injection by mid-February.

The programme got off to a good start but appears to have slowed somewhat in recent days. On Tuesday, the number of people who got their first jab in the previous 24 hours was 204,076.

That was down from 225,407 on 17 January and 277,915 on 16 January. The daily record for first doses administered was hit on the previous day, with 324,233 people getting the shot.

Ministers are now reportedly concerned about the pace of the rollout after a reduction in supply from vaccine-maker Pfizer-BioNTech.

Pfizer said in a statement last week that supplies of its jab to Europe had been reduced due to changes in its manufacturing processes.

"Although this will temporarily impact shipments in late January to early February, it will provide a significant increase in doses available for patients in late February and March," the company added.

The company said the changes would have a "short-term impact" on the delivery of vaccines to the UK.

There are also concerns that vaccines are not being distributed evenly among regions across the country.

Despite distribution issues, the government has insisted it is on track to meet its mid-February target.