LONDON - A mass walk-in vaccine clinic at London's Twickenham stadium, the home of English rugby, on Monday was offering COVID-19 vaccines to anyone over 18, with local health officials saying they were aiming for 15,000 shots in a day. Anyone aged 30 or over is currently eligible for a
COVID-19 vaccine in Britain, but as part of a "Let's Tackle COVID" vaccination event at the rugby stadium, health officials made the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines available to any adult as the day wore on.
"Thousands of people vaccinated at Twickenham today. Still spaces and vaccine left: now open to all 18 and over who can get here before 7.30pm," the health service's North West London Clinical Commissioning Group said on Twitter.
The mass-vaccination drive, which coincided with a public holiday, was arranged in response to an increase of COVID-19 cases in the area.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson has warned that highly transmissible B.1.617.2 variant of concern first identified in India might dash his hopes of fully lifting lockdown restrictions in England on June 21, and he has urged people to get vaccinated.
Over 127,000 people have died in Britain from COVID-19, one of the highest death totals in the world, although its vaccination programme is progressing well, with around three-quarters of adults having received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine.
