Family drive-through Covid vaccine clinic returns to Ewood Park

Families will have the chance to catch up on their vaccinations when the drive-through Covid vaccine clinic returns to Ewood Park in Blackburn this week.

Open from Wednesday 18 May until Monday 20 June, the vaccination site will be available for anyone aged five years and older. The pop-up site in Car Park D, off Bolton Road, will also be available for walk-ins.

The site will be open seven days a week, from 10am to 5pm Monday to Saturday, and 10am to 4pm on Sunday. However, the site will be closed for the Queen’s Jubilee celebrations on Thursday and Friday, 2 & 3 June.

Jane Scattergood, clinical lead for the Lancashire and South Cumbria COVID-19 vaccination programme, is urging people to get their booster jab without delay. She said:

What is especially great is the convenience of whole families being able to all come together in one place to have their vaccinations, no matter which dose.

It is really important that anyone aged 75 or over comes forward as quickly as possible now to get their spring booster, or fourth dose. Equally important is for those people who have a weakened immune system. We know COVID-19 is more serious in older people and those with a weakened immune system as their protection from the vaccine may be lower and have declined quicker.

We still very much want to see anyone who hasn’t had a vaccine at all or who may be behind with their second or booster doses. There will be no judgement from staff, we will just be pleased that you’ve come forward.

Booster jabs as well as first and second doses will be available. Vaccination eligibility is as follows:

• Ages five to 15 – first and second dose
• Ages 16 and over – first, second and booster dose
• Ages 75 and over (and those who live in care homes for older people) – first, second, booster and spring booster

There is no need to book an appointment, the facility will be available to just drive into or walk in. Once there, people will be able to either go inside the mobile unit for their jab if they are a walk-in, or park in a bay in their car and the vaccinator will come to them.

Abdul Razaq, Blackburn with Darwen’s director of public health, said:

It is vitally important for people who have already had a Covid infection that they get vaccinated as this is the best defence against becoming seriously ill and requiring hospitalisation. The immunity we get from the vaccine is stronger than any immunity we may get from a previous infection and prevents against serious illness should we get Covid again in the future.

Covid hasn’t gone away and I would urge anyone who is due to have their next jab, or even wants to take up their first, to make the most of the drive-through being here in Blackburn for the next month. It is so convenient, with getting jabbed taking fewer than five minutes – but the protection and benefits for you and your family lasts much longer.

For more information about the Covid vaccine, visit https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/coronavirus-vaccination/coronavirus-vaccine/