St Helens’ Totally Wicked Stadium is set to be put to use during the latest national lockdown after it was revealed it would become Merseyside’s first mass Covid-19 vaccination centre.
The stadium, which is currently being used to vaccinate people in the region, will be used to ramp up the speed of vaccinations again from Monday.
It’s the continuation of a long-running partnership the club has had with the local Clinical Commission Group, which has been in place for around ten years. The stadium facility has previously been used for flu vaccines.
“We’re just happy to help out,” said club CEO Mike Rush.
“I think every one has helped out in different ways, but we’ve had a long-standing relationship with our CCG, who have used the facility for various reasons. It’s a continuation of a partnership that has previously seen it used for conferencing, blood donations and a variety of other things.”
Prof Kevin Hardy, the centre’s medical director, said it would be used to vaccinate thousands of people every week once it is fully operational.
The centre will use the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine.
On the pitch, St Helens’ senior stars returned to action this week, and they will soon be joined by Sione Mata’utia.
The Australia international and his family have finally received their visas and they arrived in the UK on Friday.
Mata’utia will link up with the squad for pre-season training this week, meaning all of the clubs overseas stars are now in the country, with Joel Thompson and Ignatius Paasi already linking up with the club.
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