Leeds United Women's player to vaccinate first patient at Elland Road Covid vaccination centre

Olivia - known as Liv - is an advanced practitioner in the Leeds Teaching Hospitals’ transplant team and has already been vaccinating her colleagues and other health professionals around the city.

Leeds United's Kalvin Phillips visited the centre last week when he met some of the staff working at the centre, which is set to boost the Covid-19 vaccination programme for Leeds and West Yorkshire.

In just three weeks, the Centenary Pavilion has been transformed into a safe, modern facility capable of navigating the local population through their vaccination journey in less than 30 minutes.

The centre opens today (Mon Feb 8) for people in the first priority cohorts who have received an invitation from the national booking system.

The site has been operating as a hospital hub for the past two weeks to support the vaccination of frontline health and care workers.

Liv Smart said: “I've been involved in the vaccination service since December on a voluntary basis, with the majority of my time working as a vaccinator.

“After 12 months of struggle, this is the light at the end of the tunnel.

"It truly is fantastic that such hard work and commitment has managed to develop a vaccine in such a short time. Be sure to get vaccinated!”

Dr Phil Wood, Chief Medical Officer for Leeds Teaching Hospitals said; “We’re delighted to open Elland Road to the first priority groups of the general public.

"The centre will complement the excellent services being provided in local communities by GP practices and help us reach everyone in the first priority groups by mid-February.

"We want to make it as easy as possible for people to get their vaccine and these centres offer another option for people to choose from.”

The Elland Road centre is one of 23 vaccination centres in Leeds, and will work alongside services provided by community pharmacists, NHS trusts and 19 GP practice networks (PCNs), which have already administered tens of thousands of vaccines to people at the greatest risk from Covid-19.

The first group from the general public this week will be those in priority cohorts one to four, which includes people over 70 years of age and those who are registered as clinically extremely vulnerable.

Transforming the Pavilion into a vaccination hub has been a collaborative partnership across Leeds, involving support from Leeds City Council, IT specialists, security teams and the Leeds United Football Club.