Former Argos store and community centre to be used as mass vaccination centres in Fife

In total there are planned to be four mass vaccination sites in Fife with both the former M&S store on Kirkcaldy High Street and Fife College’s Carnegie Conference Centre in Dunfermline already confirmed.

In addition, a number of smaller existing clinics will continue to operate in the more remote parts of the Kingdom.

The new mass vaccination clinics are larger still, with around 20-30 stations in each, and are designed to maximise the throughput of people attending for their jab.

The Savoy Centre will serve a dual purpose over the coming months, with the venue large enough to safely host both the new mass vaccination clinic and the existing asymptomatic testing site for Covid-19.

Vaccinations at all clinics will continue to be by appointment only, with all adults who have not yet been vaccinated in Fife, offered jabs in the coming months. These appointments will be sent out in a phased basis using the national scheduling system, starting with those aged 40-49 years old.

While the new mass vaccination sites are not due to open until next month, around 5000 people are being invited for vaccination at the new venues over the coming weeks ahead of their formal opening.

NHS Fife director of pharmacy and medicines, Scott Garden said: “The confirmation of our mass vaccination venues is an important milestone in the immunisation programme here in Fife, and these sites will play a pivotal role in helping offer the local population protection against Covid-19.”

He added: “As we move into this second phase of the programme and see some of the public health measures in place begin to ease, it is important that we to tailor our approach accordingly. In addition to enabling us to deliver higher volumes of vaccinations than our existing clinics, these new sites also offer us greater flexibility in terms of opening hours and provide the space to allow us to scale up and down the programme dependent upon vaccine supply.”