ESSEX’S first Covid-19 mass vaccination centre opens today in Wickford, capable of administering thousands of lifesaving jabs every week.

The centre, in an NHS building in Runwell, is one of the first in the East of England to open its doors to vaccinate people aged 80 and over, along with health and care staff.

It means people can use the centre rather than hospital or GP hubs across Essex and more will be going live across the county in the next few weeks.

Louise Hembrough, nurse and operational director for coronavirus vaccination programme in mid and south Essex said: “It’s exciting and a privilege to be part of the roll-out of the national vaccination programme.

“Our centre is capable of giving thousands of vaccinations each week.”

She added: “We do ask people to only attend the vaccination centre if you have an appointment - we will not be able to give you a vaccination without one and please come at the correct time, not earlier, to help us keep everyone safe.”

The new centre opened as figures revealed the East of England - including Essex - administered the lowest proportion of Covid-19 vaccines than any other region.

Data, released by NHS England for the first time, showed that only 29 per cent of people aged 80 and over had been vaccinated.

Eight to ten similar-sized centres will be launched in the area in the coming weeks.

Speaking of the logistics of the operation, she said: “We’ve learnt a lot of lessons this week from vaccinating staff. We’ve also had special permission to have the patient flow done differently.

“Instead of passing patients over to different people in the pre-vaccine checks, this will be done by the same person. We’ve been furiously recruiting staff and volunteers, and we’re all ready to go.”

Ms Hembrough hopes the streamlined patient flow will prevent the queues seen at GPs’ surgeries across south Essex.

Ms Hembrough underlined her appeal for volunteers to come forward.

She added: “We are struggling to get volunteers to sign up, especially in the mornings. I would say to anyone, please come and help, we would welcome your help.

“Volunteers will be helping with the patient flow, and marshalling the car park, in case it does get really busy.”

Nigel Leonard, executive director of strategy and transformation at Essex Partnership NHS Trust, which is co-ordinating the vaccination centres across mid and south Essex, said: “We are delighted to be able to open the doors to the first large-scale vaccination centre in Essex as part of our continued fight against Covid-19.

“I would like to thank my NHS colleagues and partners for their incredible hard work in rapidly designing the centre at our trust headquarters, so we can protect many more people in the coming weeks.”

Letters were sent out to those aged over 80 on Saturday, with more staff to be receive their jabs too. There are now four hospital hubs and 25 GP-led vaccination services across the county.

Medics are also again urging people to avoid contacting the NHS to seek a vaccine. Staff will make contact at the right time. When you are contacted, please ensure you attend your appointment.

The news surrounding the new vaccination centre in Wickford comes alongside the latest figures from hospital trusts, which revealed 38 people lost their fight with the virus in south Essex.

As of Friday afternoon, 20 more people had died at Southend Hospital and 28 new deaths at Basildon and Thurrock Hospital Trust.

NHS England figures show a total of 537 people have now died in hospital in Southend, while the figure sits at 670 in Basildon.

Official guidance states: “Confirmation of Covid-19 diagnosis, death notification and reporting in central figures can take up to several days and the hospitals providing the data are under significant operational pressure.”