A SALVATION Army hall in Shoebury is the latest vaccination centre to open up in Southend. 

The rollout of the Covid-19 vaccine to the first patients in the area began on Friday as residents in the relevant priority groups got their first jabs.  

The Shoeburyness Vaccination Centre, at the Salvation Army, is open from 9am – 4pm, sometimes extending into evening clinics until 8pm. Clinics are running seven days a week, Monday to Sunday. However, you should only attend when invited to do so by the NHS.

The church and charity’s officers (ministers), based at the church centre in Frobisher Way, were keen to help the vaccine response effort by temporarily offering one of two halls for use to their neighbouring GP practice.

The Shoeburyness Salvation Army community hall is in a separate building from the main church hall allowing the NHS to have sole use of that building to use as a vaccination centre, safely and securely.  

The Salvation Army’s leaders in Shoebury are Captains Clare and Robert Davis. 

Captain Clare said: “We work closely with the GP surgery which is next door to our halls. 

"We help vulnerable people all year round, some of who will be among the first groups to be offered vaccinations.

“We are fortunate to have two separate halls on our site. We had been praying about how best we could help our local health service at this time, so we were very happy to make one of them available exclusively for use as a vaccination centre.

“Members of our church have been affected by Covid-19 so offering our hall to the health service is a simple way for us to play our part in helping our community become protected against the virus.” 

The community hall building will be used for the foreseeable future as a vaccination centre.

The church moved its regular worship services online last year but continues to offer support to vulnerable families and individuals such as providing essential food parcels.

A total of 5,526,071 Covid-19 vaccinations had taken place in England between December 8 and January 22, according to provisional NHS England data, including first and second doses, which is a rise of 425,596 on Friday’s figures.

Of this number, 5,085,771 were the first dose of the vaccine, a rise of 424,478 on Friday’s figures, while 440,300 were the second dose, an increase of 1,118.