Middlesbrough Football Club manager, Neil Warnock, has expressed his support and pride at the club's involvement with vaccinating hundreds of young people across the area.
Boro's Charity Foundation bus was converted into an on-the-spot mobile vaccination unit last week, in partnership with Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council and the Newcastle Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. Around 500 people – aged mainly 18-39 - received their jabs over two days in Redcar and Skelton.
“I'm very proud of the football club being able to play a part in this," he said. “To have our home stadium as a vaccination centre, and to be able to work with the NHS and the local community via the MFC Foundation Health Bus is terrific.
“The pandemic has been very hard for a lot of people and anything at all that contributes in the fight against this virus has my full support.
"I'm pleased and proud that we can play a part in some way, particularly for the people of our area.
“I've had the vaccine myself, and I'd urge everyone to follow suit as soon as they get the opportunity, because the quicker everyone is able to get it, the quicker we can hopefully start to move on and get back to life as we know it."
The next stop for the Boro Bus will be South Bank on Wednesday 4 August, where the team – this time in partnership with Eston Primary Care Network - hope to see as many people as possible in the Tesco car park between 9am and 6:45pm.
They'll be supported once again by the incredible volunteers from St. John Ambulance and Cleveland Fire Brigade.
“To hear that such a significant number of our young residents came and got themselves vaccinated last week was excellent news," commented Councillor Steve Kay, Cabinet Member for Health, Housing and Welfare.
“It was a fantastic couple of days and the team at Skelton and Redcar were over the moon. Being double vaccinated is the best way these young people can protect themselves, their families and the most vulnerable in our communities – not to mention the NHS.
“Every single vaccine we had was used up, and we hope to see a similar level of success on the next date down at Southbank."
Leader of the Council, Mary Lanigan, added:
“The success of these two days was phenomenal. We are pushing to continue with the bus to get everyone vaccinated as quickly as we can."
If you are over 17 years 9 months and under 40 years old, and in need of your first or second Pfizer vaccine, no appointment is necessary. If it is your second vaccine, please ensure that a minimum of 8 weeks have passed since your first jab.