New mass coronavirus vaccination centre to open in borough

A new mass vaccination centre is set to open in Caerphilly County Borough.

Newbridge Leisure Centre will open as a vaccination centre on Saturday, January 30.

It will replace the mass vaccination centre at the council’s headquarters in Tredomen, which opened earlier this month.

The vaccination centre in Newbridge will be larger than the one in Tredomen, the council has said.

Due to Alert Level 4 lockdown restrictions currently in place in Wales, leisure centres are closed to the public.

Judith Paget, chief executive of Aneurin Bevan University Health Board, said the new mass vaccination centre will “support our programme to vaccinate as many people as quickly and safely as possible”.

She added: “We would like to thank our partners in the local authority who have helped to make this possible.”

Councillor Philippa Marsden, leader of Caerphilly County Borough Council, described the new vaccination centre opening as “very positive news for the whole community”.

Cllr Marsden said: “We have transformed the leisure centre into a mass vaccination centre in a very short timescale and I would like to thank all involved for their efforts.”

“Our leisure centres are closed at present, so this is an excellent opportunity for us to offer this facility for alternative beneficial community use during lockdown.

“We are not sure when we will be able to reopen our leisure centres at present and we are conscious that this decision may impact on any future reopening of this particular site, but we will keep the community informed and updated as the situation unfolds.”

Caerphilly’s Senedd Member, Hefin David, said: “I welcome the fact that this new, larger centre is open, which represents the rapid progress being made with the vaccine in our community.

“With GPs and mobile units now also providing vaccinations we will continue to see sustained increases in the numbers vaccinated.”

People are asked not to phone their GP, pharmacy or hospital asking when they will get a vaccine. When someone is in one of the groups eligible for the vaccine, they will be invited to attend a dedicated clinic which will have been set up to ensure patient safety and that of the healthcare professionals.

An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated the vaccination centre in Newbridge would open on Sunday, January 30. We have corrected this to say Saturday, January 30. We have also altered the story to clarify that the new vaccination centre will replace the one currently in place in Tredomen.