The Smethwick branch has started administering vaccines from today.
Earlier this month, Asda announced that they had been selected to be the first supermarket in the UK to rollout Covid-19 vaccinations from an in-store pharmacy in Smethwick, Birmingham. From today, locals will not only be be able to pick up the usual items of milk, teabags, bread and bananas, but they can soon add a vaccine to their shopping list too.
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Asda has worked in partnership with NHS England to provide in-store Covid-19 vaccinations, with trained pharmacy colleagues delivering 240 inoculations per day at the Cape Hill store in Birmingham, to priority groups selected by the health service. The supermarket giant has transformed the George clothing department at the store to accommodate the vaccination centre, which will operate from 8am to 8pm seven days a week.
Asda further announced that it is also stepping up its support for the NHS vaccination programme by transforming the George section of its Watford superstore – creating a much larger space that has the capacity to deliver 3,500 vaccines a week. The supermarket is currently working to repurpose the space ready for its pharmacy colleagues to start providing vaccines to patients identified by the NHS the week commencing 1st February.
According to Asda’s statement, it is also currently assessing other sites where the vaccinations can be administered at, with the help of NHS England and the government. Anybody in a key priority group will receive an NHS appointment and can then subsequently choose an Asda store, which operates 238 in-store pharmacies, to receive their vaccine.
Faisal Tuddy, Asda Superintendent Pharmacist, said: “We are incredibly proud to be the first supermarket pharmacy to administer the vaccine and to play our part in helping the NHS roll outs its vaccination programme. Many of the people who will attend the store today have been shielding at home for months and we hope receiving the vaccine is the first step towards a return to normality for them.
“We are also stepping up our support for the NHS by opening a second in-store vaccination centre next week and have offered all of our 254 in-store pharmacies across the UK, along with our logistics network, to help with the roll out.”
[Featured Image: Asda]