Fife College’s Carnegie Conference Centre in Dunfermline is the latest site to be confirmed as a mass COVID-19 vaccination clinic as the project to help protect the Kingdom’s residents against the virus prepares to move into its second phase.
Representatives from Fife College made contact with NHS Fife earlier this year to offer the use of their facilities free-of-charge to the Health Board for use as vaccination clinics. The Canmore Hall Suite within the Carnegie Conference Centre was identified as a possible location and a thorough assessment was carried to ensure the suitability of the venue to safely deliver many hundreds of COVID-19 vaccinations each day.
In addition to providing significant space so that social distancing could be maintained, Carnegie Conference Centre also has good public transport links and dedicated parking facilities. The mass vaccination clinic is expected to become operational in May 2021.
Principal of Fife College, Dr Hugh Hall said:
“At Fife College, we were keen to support the vaccination effort in any way we could so we are delighted that part of our Carnegie Conference Centre has been chosen as a mass vaccination centre in the Kingdom.
“We are looking forward to welcoming Fife residents on to our campus over the coming weeks and months. The College is proud of the part we play in the local communities we serve throughout Fife and we are pleased to be able to support NHS Fife in the fantastic work they are doing.”
For many months, NHS Fife has been reviewing potential venues to deliver larger numbers of COVID-19 vaccinations - this involved considering the accessibility of the potential venues, clinical waste disposal and whether safe physical distancing requirements could be met.
Four mass vaccination sites are currently planned in towns across the Kingdom to meet the demand for even greater volumes of COVID-19 jabs. The confirmation of the use of Fife College’s Carnegie Conference Centre follows the recent announcement that the former M&S store on Kirkcaldy High Street will too become a mass vaccination site. The two remaining remaining mass vaccination sites will be confirmed shortly.
The new mass vaccination clinics are larger still and are designed to maximise the throughput of people attending for their jab. Vaccinations at the new clinics will continue to be by appointment only.
Since early February 2021 a network of community COVID-19 clinics in Fife have been in operation, performing many thousands of immunisations each week. More than 220,000 jabs now having been administered, and with the likely completion of first doses for those in priority groups 1 to 9 in the coming weeks, the programme is beginning to move into a new phase which will see all adults in Fife offered vaccination on a incremental basis over the coming months.
NHS Fife Director of Nursing, Janette Owens, said:
“NHS Fife has particularly strong links with Fife College going back a number of years, and we are very grateful that they have generously allowed us the use of Canmore Hall at Carnegie Conference as a mass vaccination clinic.
“The COVID-19 vaccination programme in Fife is far and away the largest public health intervention the Kingdom has ever seen, with more than 220,000 jabs administered in a few short months.
“With the first doses for those in our prioritised groups nearing completion, it’s vital that we look towards the vaccination of our wider adult population and this requires us to tailor our approach if we are to deliver the number of vaccines we are required to in timely manner.
“Venues such as the Carnegie Conference Centre will not only enable us to perform more vaccinations than other clinics nearby, they also provide greater flexibility with sufficient space to enable us to scale up and down the programme dependent on vaccine supply.”
The latest information on the COVID-19 vaccination programme in Fife is available on NHS Fife’s website at: https://fife.link/vaccinationclinics
Additional information on the COVID-19 vaccination programme in Scotland is available on the NHS Inform website by visiting: https://www.nhsinform.scot/healthy-living/immunisation/vaccines/coronavirus-covid-19-vaccine.
Images - Download
- Caption for photos 1 & 2 - (L to R) NHS Fife Director of Nursing, Janette Owens; Fife College Student/ NHS Fife Vaccinator, Jenny Colling; and Principal of Fife College, Dr Hugh Hall.
Audio
- Dr Hugh Hall - Principal of Fife College (Download)
- Janette Owens - Director of Nursing, NHS Fife (Download)
