Starting this month, Asda shoppers will not only be able to buy their groceries from the supermarket giant – they’ll be able to get their COVID-19 vaccine whilst in store too!

The retailer has announced that it will be the first of the big four to offer in-store COVID-19 jabs and hopes to administer 250 doses a day, seven days a week starting from the 25th January.

According to Asda, it’s been chosen by NHS England to operate a vaccination centre from its in-store pharmacy in Birmingham and the vaccines will be administered by qualified Asda staff.

To make way for the new initiative, Asda will transform its George clothing area into a vaccination centre which will run every day of the week from 8am to 8pm.

In a statement, Roger Burnley, Asda CEO and President said: 

We are incredibly proud to provide this service and are keen to do all we can to help the NHS and Government accelerate the rollout of the vaccination programme.

In another statement the firm said:

Individuals in priority groups will receive their appointment from the NHS and have the option to select the Asda store as a convenient location to receive their vaccination. They should NOT contact the store directly.

Asda has also offered NHS England the full use of its 238 in-store pharmacies and qualified pharmacists to support the rollout of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine programme which has just begun. As this variant of the vaccine is easier to transport and store, it could be administered from Asda’s full network of in-store pharmacies throughout the country.

Asda has have been approved to initially offer the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, which has proven difficult to store.

As it stands the government has set a target to vaccinate 14million people by mid-February, in a move that’s been criticised as ‘overly ambitious’, given the government’s track record with targets so far.

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