London stadiums host ‘super Saturday’ of mass rapid Covid vaccinations

Londoners received tens of thousands of Covid jabs in just a few hours on Saturday as football grounds in the capital were transformed into mass vaccination centres.

Huge jab clinics have been set up at the London Stadium, Stamford Bridge, the Tottenham Hotspur stadium, the Valley, home of Charlton Athletic, and Selhurst Park.

Smaller events are taking place in community venues in a drive to vaccinate as many Londoners as possible on what has been dubbed a “super Saturday”.

Young people in the capital had been urged to book vaccination slots as Covid-19 cases are soaring among children and young adults. The number of people infected with the virus is increasing rapidly in England, doubling every 11 days.

The mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said he was delighted to visit Chelsea’s ground at Stamford Bridge, where 6,000 Pfizer vaccines were available on Saturday to all adults over the age of 18 yet to receive a first dose, as well as those who were waiting to get a second Pfizer shot.

At the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, the home of West Ham, there were 15,000 doses waiting to be administered.

“Chelsea FC, West Ham at the London Stadium, Tottenham Hotspur FC, Charlton Athletic FC, are hosting large-scale pop-up clinics, and there are a huge number of events taking place in local community centres, so that as many people as possible get convenient access to the life-saving Covid jabs,” Khan said.

“You do not need to be registered with a GP to get vaccinated. It is great news that more than 8 million doses of the life-saving Covid-19 vaccine have been given to Londoners, and now all adults over the age of 18 are able to get the jab.

“We are seeing the big difference that the vaccine is making in our fight against the virus, so I strongly urge all adult Londoners to book their appointments or attend a walk-in centre as soon as possible, and to ensure you get your second dose.”

By Saturday afternoon he tweeted: “Once again, I’m blown away by the efficiency, passion and professionalism of NHS staff and volunteers.”

The vaccines minister, Nadhim Zahawi, tweeted: “This is an incredible effort by the whole London team. Happening across the City at Spurs, Arsenal, Charlton and West Ham too. Come on London let’s get vaccinated!”

The government said that, as of 9am on Saturday, there had been a further 10,321 lab-confirmed Covid-19 cases in the UK, and reported a further 14 deaths within 28 days of testing positive for Covid-19, bringing the UK total to 127,970.

Separate figures published by the Office for National Statistics showed there have been 153,000 deaths registered in the UK where Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate.