The doors of Northern Ireland’s largest pop up mass vaccination centre at the Titanic Exhibition Centre will close at 8pm on Sunday 16 January 2022.
Following the success of the mass vaccination programme at the SSE Arena in Belfast, the South Eastern Health & Social Care Trust answered the call for another mass vaccination centre where redeployed staff, retired staff and medical students administered 1st and 2nd doses of the Pfizer vaccine and the COVID booster.
The TEC, which the Trust managed to set up in just five days, was opened by the Health Minister on the 21 December 2021 as concerns grew about the rapid spread of the Omicron variant.
The Clinical Lead of the vaccination programme at the South Eastern HSC Trust has praised everyone who has come forward to get vaccinated at the TEC and thanked the staff who have worked so hard to protect the community.
Tanya Daly says, “We are delighted that the public have responded so positively and continued their vaccination programme by attending for boosters. We have also had a number of people attending for both first and second doses and we would like to reassure them that they will be able to receive their next dose at any of our three locations in the Ulster Hospital, Lisburn Primary Care and Community Centre and in the Great Hall Downshire Hospital. Details of clinic times are available on the Trust social media platforms. We would like to thank all of our staff who were temporarily redeployed to support this centre as well as those who relocated to the new centre.”
The mass vaccination centre at the TEC was a short-term measure with a short-term lease to increase overall capacity. It took the pressure off other vaccination centres and helped reduce queues. It has done the job it was set up to do. With the shift starting towards more localised clinics, this is the right time to reopen the Ulster Hospital vaccination centre, while keeping the Lagan Valley and the Downshire Hospital sites going and exploring other localised options.
We are heading for 900,000 boosters total in Northern Ireland soon. This is a great achievement but we need more people to come forward and get vaccinated.