A VACCINATION centre opening in former shop will see hundreds more ‘at risk’ people invited to book their jab.

The new hub, which will open this week in the former Next store in Charter Walk, Burnley, joins the site at Blackburn Cathedral in offering an alternative to GP and hospital services to provide thousands of vaccinations every week.

Hundreds of people aged 65 and over and those who are clinically vulnerable are now being invited to book a coronavirus vaccination at the Burnley centre, on receipt of their booking letter.

Jane Scattergood, Covid-19 vaccination director for Lancashire and South Cumbria Integrated Care System, said: “A great deal of hard work goes into setting up these sites, particularly when they are not in health settings. It is about delivering the vaccination programme locally where people will be able to access services the most.

"We are asking the public to support the NHS by not contacting your GP about your vaccination, we will invite you when it is your time.”

If you receive a letter from the national NHS Covid-19 Vaccination booking service and you book an appointment, the NHS ask that you make sure you attend it.

If people have 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 the letter.

Those like care home residents who are unable to travel to vaccine centres, hospitals or GP-led sites are already receiving the vaccine at home.

Dr Mark Dziobon, Burnley GP and medical director of Pennine Lancashire CCGs, said: “The Covid vaccination programme is scaling up to reach as many people as possible, particularly those who are most at risk from the ravages of Covid.

“We anticipate that the ability to vaccinate larger numbers of people will be a significant development in our fight against the virus and a return to a more normal way of life over time.

Cllr Lian Pate, Burnley Council’s health boss, said: “This is fantastic news."