MALVERN'S Three Counties Showground will be a mass coronavirus vaccination site for people in Herefordshire and Worcestershire, the chief executive has confirmed.

Up to 2,500 people a day will be vaccinated at the site, which is expected to open in January.

Showground chief executive Ken Nottage said preparations are underway and the site is being turned into a site capable of mass coronavirus vaccinations.

The Hereford Times understands this is in addition to clinics run by GPs in Herefordshire.

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Ken Nottage said: We are rapidly developing part of our site to create the vaccination centre and it's due to be open in early January.

"Very quick turnaround and they've got some whizzy Portakabins coming in, about 100 metres of Portakabins.

"They're looking at, when it's fully up and running, at vaccinating 2,500 people a day."

The showground, which is near the Herefordshire-Worcestershire border, will be used by people from both counties.

"From the Three Counties' point of view, there's no commercial advantage for us, we just want to do our a bit to help the NHS and to help the cause to sort this pandemic out.

"There will be shows next year. I can see they (the vaccinations centre) will be here for a year.

"Initially it's nine-months but I can see it being all of next year before they're finished. We will be running shows around it."

He added: "They're looking at running 12 hours a day.

"A proper operation, and from our point of view we just want to support the effort to fight this pandemic."

The mass vaccination sites across the UK will be in addition to about 1,250 local sites; mainly GP surgeries and health centres, alongside some community centres, from which to administer any vaccine, regional and local government sources said earlier this month.

It's understood there will be one site initially in Herefordshire's five primary care networks, which are groups of GP surgeries.

The sites in Leominster and Ledbury are expected to open next week, with others in the pipepline. 

Preparations have been stepped up after the first doses of vaccine by Pfizer and BioNTech were given out across the UK this week.

Vaccinations have been rolled at at hospitals first, with mass vaccination hubs, in places like conference halls and sports arenas, and GPs surgeries and health centres following.