A theatre that had to temporarily close to the public during the pandemic will have a new lease of life in the coming weeks as it becomes home to Kent and Medway’s second large-scale vaccination centre.
The Woodville in Gravesend, formerly known as the Woodville Halls, opens on Tuesday, 2 February just a week after the county’s first big centre opened in Folkestone offering COVID-19 vaccinations to the most vulnerable people in our communities.
Kent Community Health NHS Foundation Trust (KCHFT), which is co-ordinating and leading the large vaccination centres in Kent and Medway, has been working with Gravesham Borough Council, which owns the building, to turn the theatre into a large-scale vaccination centre. The theatre is easily accessible by car, public transport and on foot.
The Gravesend vaccination centre will be seeing people who live within 45 minutes of it and will be stepping up to vaccinate thousands of people every week.
KCHFT Chief Executive Paul Bentley said: “To be able to open the second large vaccination centre in Gravesend within a week of our first one in Folkestone is a testament to everyone’s desire to get the job done and protect our most vulnerable quickly.
“We know that some of the levels of virus have been particularly high in north Kent, so we are delighted to be opening a vaccination centre in Gravesend – inviting the over 70s.
“Every jab we give we know could be life-saving – so we are delighted to be playing such a vital role in the biggest immunisation rollout the NHS has ever seen and we are hugely grateful for the support of Gravesham Borough Council.”
As a show of support from the council, an hour’s free parking will be available in a reserved area of Parrock Street car park, Gravesend, for those attending the vaccination centre. Please be prepared to show confirmation of your appointment to access parking.
The Gravesend site, like Folkestone, will be open to members of the public who have received a letter from the NHS and been invited to book. Nobody needs to contact the NHS, as people will be invited when it is their turn.
Cllr John Burden, Leader of Gravesham Borough Council, said: “The Woodville has been at the heart of the Gravesham community for many years. It seems only right that it should take on this vitally important role in protecting local people from this dreadful virus.
“We are happy to be able to put it at the disposal of the vaccination team and I pay tribute to staff from the NHS, The Woodville and the council, who have worked so hard in recent days to get the centre up and running.’’
Gurvinder Sandher, from Kent Equality Cohesion Council, said “I am aware in other parts of the country people from BAME communities have not taken up the offer of the vaccine as we had hoped. Sadly, nearly all of us know someone who has been very unwell with, or died from Covid. We would urge people when you receive your invitation to book your vaccine, don’t put it off.”
The new large-scale vaccine centres will each be capable of delivering thousands of vaccinations each week, scaling their operations up and down according to vaccine supplies and demand. People who book in to a vaccine centre will receive a pre-vaccination assessment before they receive their vaccine. Appointments are staggered to allow for social distancing and people are urged not to turn up early to avoid queues. Anyone having the vaccine will need to wait for 15 minutes before driving.
If anyone has already received a jab since the letter was sent out or would prefer to wait to be invited to attend a hospital or GP service, they can simply ignore it. People like care home residents who are unable to travel to vaccine centres, hospitals or GP-led sites are already being vaccinated at home.
For more information about the vaccine programme visit www.kentandmedwayccg.nhs.uk/covid19vaccine.
