The COVID-19 vaccination clinic based within the Kingsgate Shopping Centre in Dunfermline will next month relocate to a new site at Dunfermline East Church.
The COVID-19 vaccination programme in Fife began back in December 2020, with more than 880,000 vaccinations carried out across Fife in the period since.
The clinic at the Kingsgate Shopping Centre has been a key part of the vaccination programme in Fife since the replacing the clinic at Carnegie Conference Centre in September 2021.
With many of the public health restrictions in place since the start of the pandemic now being lifted, and the retail sector continuing its recovery, it has become necessary to find a new vaccination clinic to service much of the population of West Fife.
Work has been carried out in recent weeks to review potential venues and consider their suitability, assessing factors like wheelchair access, clinical waste disposal and whether safe physical distancing requirements could be met.
The site at Dunfermline East Church has now been chosen due to its considerable size, dedicated parking and good public transport links due to the large supermarket nearby.
Alongside COVID vaccination, the new clinic will also be used to provide pneumococcal and shingles vaccinations to those eligible for these conditions also.
Preparations will begin shortly at Dunfermline East Church, meaning there should be no interruption in provision while the relocation takes place.
Clinical Services Manager for Fife’s Immunisation Programme, Karen Nolan, said:
“More than 880,000 vaccinations in Fife have now been carried out since the start of the vaccination programme. This has not only helped prevent some of the most vulnerable in our community from becoming seriously unwell, it has also helped reduce hospital admissions and is enabling us all to get back to doing many of the things we were unable to at the height on the pandemic.
“The virus hasn’t gone away, however, and it remains as important as ever to keep up to date with our COVID-19 vaccinations. The new clinic at Dunfermline East Church will play a really important role in helping us to continue to protect local people against COVID-19 and its effects in the weeks and months to come.”
On the use of the facilities at the Kingsgate Shopping Centre, Karen Nolan added:
“We want to place on record our thanks to the management of Kingsgate Shopping Centre for their help and support over recent months.
“This support has allowed us to perform tens of thousands of vaccinations over the course of the last nine months, enabling us to provide flexible and accessible clinics which have helped to protect people from West Fife and beyond against the virus.”
For details of the various upcoming drop-in clinics available across Fife, visit: www.nhsfife.org/dropin.
