THE Mill Hall in the heart of Rayleigh has been offered to NHS chiefs to help with the mass Covid vaccination roll-out.

The Rayleigh arts and events centre, which is currently closed, could help administer thousands of vaccines this spring.

Council bosses have confirmed that the Freight House in Rochford has also been offered to the NHS.

This comes as Michael Hoy, Green councillor for Hullbridge, urged Rochford Council to press the Government for its “fair share” of the vaccine.

As it stands, the Rochford area only has one Covid vaccination site, the Puzey Family Practice, in Rochford.

But council leader Simon Wootton, revealed to the Echo that both the Mill Hall and the Freight House are on the table for the NHS to use if it chooses to.

He said: “If we can do everything we can do to help, then we will.

“It’s all about the mass vaccination scheme at the moment.

“Both the Mill Hall and the Freight House have been offered to be used.

“The NHS is a valued partner of the council and, through the efforts of the Essex Resilience Forum, the council is supporting the NHS vaccination programme

“We remain in active dialogue to secure the district’s role as part of the national roll out.”

The Mill Hall closed as a result of “pressures of the pandemic”, with the centre making a loss for Rochford Council.

But Mr Hoy has now written to Mr Wootton and Mark Francois, MP for Rayleigh and Wickford, to demand more vaccination sites are set up.

He said: “It will not be possible to safely immunise residents on the scale required if it stays as it is.

“Although Essex has among the highest rate of infection in the country, we really lag behind less hard hit areas on the administration of the vaccine.

“It doesn’t feel like anybody is banging their hands on the desk to get the vaccine to Rochford

“It’s frustrating that we only have one centre available for people to get vaccinated.

“I really believe pressure must be brought to make sure that we are not only treated fairly but are in fact at the forefront of the vaccine rollout given that we are one of the hardest hit areas.”

NHS chiefs confirmed that 25 more GP surgeries across mid and south Essex would be administering the Covid vaccine from this week.

An NHS spokesman said: “This is the biggest vaccination programme the NHS has ever delivered and we are pleased to have already vaccinated thousands of people across mid and south Essex, with more new vaccination sites coming online this week.”