Tottenham Hotspur have offered their £1billion stadium to the National Health Service as a site to speed up the rollout of the coronavirus vaccines.
The Government aims to ramp up the rollout of the vaccines in the coming weeks after the Oxford-AstraZeneca jab was given approval by UK regulators.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson revealed plans on Monday to vaccinate 13million people by mid-February but just over 1.3m have received their first dose across the UK.
However, to reach that mark the government must scale up the rollout and sports stadiums have been identified as potential hubs.
According to the Daily Mail, Spurs have offered their north London home to the NHS and it’s likely the stadium will be used to offer locals one of the two approved vaccines.
Spurs’ stadium was used by the NHS during the first national lockdown in March and April for antenatal services and it’s since been used as a mass testing centre.
The Football Association are also said to have offered Wembley Stadium to the NHS but it’s unclear whether the 90,000-seater arena will be approved for use.
As of Tuesday, 23% of over-80s in England had received their first dose of the vaccine.
The Government must ramp up the rollout to vaccinate around 2.5m a week if they wish to meet their target of jabbing 13.5m in six weeks’ time.
Spectators were temporarily permitted to attend matches in London in early December but the new variant of Covid-19 saw London moved into tier 4 ahead of other areas of the country.
A new national lockdown was announced by the Government on Monday and is set to last for a minimum of six weeks.
